Ransom
by Greysouthpaw
Summary: Alpha force is back and this time it's personal when someone close to them is held for ransom. The kidnappers are deadly professionals who plan to kill the hostage if the team can't make the price. How far will the team go to save one of their own?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N- **Back so soon? :D And with the dreaded sequel? O_o Set after my last Fic; Aid Conflict, so some reference and maybe a character or two from that, still makes some sense stand alone if you haven't read it though. Other then that the rest of the characters and stories mentioned belong to Chris Ryan, who is pretty much the man and not someone I'd like to piss off.

Meh enjoy.

– **Grey.**

The tall black gentleman stepped from the door of the heated office-building out into the cold evening air of New York. He was a tall powerfully built man but with a slight gut in his mid-forties, he walked with an air of confidence and charisma that made him instantly likeable. The man grimaced and pulled his long formal jacket tighter around him as the bracing wind assaulted him. His distinguished face was usually set in a small, almost encouraging smile as he went about his daily job of managing a multi-million dollar software giant.

John Middleton's smile returned to him as he started to walk the single block to where his limousine waited. The smile was for his niece who was having her birthday party tonight with hundreds of people at the mansion they lived in. He had adored the girl since the day she was born, having no children of his own and that love had only increased as he became her legal guardian under the most tragic of circumstances.

Sure, suddenly becoming the sole minder of a moody teenage girl had provided a challenge for him initially, he felt like they had finally reached a degree of understanding as she found a purpose with her friends from around the globe. The change had been like magic as the sullen, sulky teenager had completely awoken to the world afresh when she returned from being marooned on an island in Indonesia. Carrying on the global vigilante work of her parents had given the girl a new lease on life and John attributed most of the credit to the four friends she now spent every school break with.

It had been with initial apprehension that John Middleton had provided his support for the five friends who made up Alpha force. This apprehension and concern for his niece was overwhelmed by the results the group achieved worldwide and the happier charge he had as a result.

Checking the Omega Speedmaster on his wrist, John boggled at the time and increased his cadence; wary of what Amber would say if he was late to her party. _I don't think I'm the one she's really waiting on though_, John thought to himself in amusement as he strode into the biting wind.

In the black van parked down the street from him, three men monitored the video feed coming from an external camera. Up front another man sat at the wheel of the vehicle, lazily smoking a cigarette. With the exception of one, they were large burly men, with an ex-military look about them with their short hair and alert eyes. The smaller man was a shabbier looking, skinny Latino man who was barely out of his teens. His nervous eyes darted towards the monitor in front of him and he swallowed, before speaking up loud enough for the driver in the front to hear too. "That's him."

The two big men in the back nodded to the driver who slowly pulled off the mark to drift up behind the pedestrian as the three men in the back slipped balaclavas down to conceal their faces. Three fingers were held up in the air by the largest of the men and he slowly lowered them as the team in the back crouched at the ready by the vans side door.

The final finger dropped and the three men exploded from the side of the darkened vehicle, pouncing on their unsuspecting victim who was caught completely by surprise.

John barely had time to turn around, as a rough hand wrapped around his opened mouth and a small remote sized device was plunged deep into the side of his neck. Blue electricity crackled momentarily between the two metal prongs in his neck, as the stun gun delivered a powerful electric shock through his central nervous system. The yell died in John's throat as every muscle in his body seized involuntarily and he collapsed into more rough hands that bundled him into the van.

_Amber! _He silently screamed, internally as the van quickly left the curb and he surrendered to the growing darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N- **A bit of a darker end to this chapter, know that this is about as bad as it gets though so push through!

**-Grey.**

* * *

><p>Hex's fingers flew in a frantic flurry over the tiny keys of his palmtop as he sat in the arrivals lounge of JFK airport. Weary looking passengers from across the world filed out of two small doors that belonged to customs. Hex had just cleared customs and now sat waiting for the other boy from England to make it through.<p>

The hacker looked up as a harassed looking Alex made his way through the security gateway lugging a sports bag and a smaller rucksack.

"Damn it's a madhouse in there!" he commented exasperated.

"Yup the Yanks got the tightest security that's for sure." Hex agreed nodding sagely, putting his palmtop back in its pouch. "They even wanted to X-ray my palmtop."

Alex sighed in relief, glad to finally be out the other side.

"At least I remembered to put my knife in my checked luggage, I hate to think of the problems that might have caused."

"Yea that's true, I think Amber would kill us if she found out we were going to be much later." Hex noted with a wisp of fear in his voice.

Alex chuckled remembering the expression on Hex's face back in Heathrow Airport when he told Amber that their flight had been delayed. The mixed look of fear and horror had gripped his face as he held the headset of his phone several feet away from his ear; saving it from the angry tirade of the woman's scorn. To his credit, he had calmed her down really well and after many quiet assurances he managed to put the phone away with a much more opaque expression.

Hex had to use every trick and tactic he had learnt in all his years with Amber to stop her melting down on him big time when he broke the news. The girl's temper and scorn was something he handled on a day-to-day basis, it was the subtler undertone of disappointment that had cut the London boy to his core. Of all the things he knew for certain, the most important to him was that he never wanted to let Amber down. With that in mind, his stomach seemed to coil uncomfortably, he was feeling unusually edgy about this party and a small part of him didn't want to go at all.

_It's not really my thing these posh parties_ he thought to himself, dreading the high culture society and the feeling of inferiority it brought. It always served as a reminder of how different he and Amber were, seemingly to reinforce how much he didn't belong in her world. Thinking of their differences and the barriers between their worlds made Hex's stomach churn further as if there was a knife in there being twisted.

* * *

><p>Alex rescued the teen from his thoughts by pointing towards the bathroom. "We should probably get changed before we leave," He suggested, the forlorn look on his face suggesting that he too, was rather nervous about the event.<p>

Indeed, Alex too was having second thoughts about the party; there was a certain someone there who he hadn't seen for about a month. If he was completely honest with himself, Alex would admit that lately he had been avoiding the girl who he had met six months ago in Egypt. But young men are very rarely honest with themselves and the turmoil in Alex's head often spilled over to his face.

What he wanted was clear but the means of keeping it was far more complicated and an issue he had been hiding from for the last few weeks, as it weighed heavily on his mind.

The two friends quickly cleaned themselves up using the washbasins before quickly getting into their suits. The pair both wore similar black suits with matching black trousers and highly polished black leather shoes. They wore simple white pinstriped shirts underneath that were highly ironed and were worn with the top buttons done up.

Alex leaned into the mirror as he concentrated on securing a double Windsor knot with the silver tie he had chosen from his dad's collection. Beside him, Hex struggled with the emerald tie his mother had chosen for him from his meagre supply of formal attire.

The jacket seemed a bit tighter across the shoulders then Hex remembered and he started to flush with the effort of tying his tie and his embarrassment in the ill-fitting clothes.

Alex turned to help his distraught friend before he choked himself to death.

"Here mate give me that." He offered helpfully as he undid the shoddy mess that Hex had devised and made him something a little more respectable.

Alex was just pleased to have something to keep his hands busy as his anxiety increased the closer they were to leaving. He gave himself one last look in the mirror and was not displeased with what he saw; his lean frame was well supported by the jacket, which clearly displayed his wiry figure. Alex thought the jacket showed off his shoulders and chest nicely, which had developed in size significantly from his rigorous fitness regime over the last month.

He ran a hand through his hair in contemplation; it was much shorter then he had ever had it and his long fringe had been reduced to a short ridge of sand coloured hair. _It looks much tidier, kind of cool _he concluded, agreeing with his father who had constantly teased him about his long hair.

Hex finished spiking his hair into short dark spires and the two friends stepped outside into the crisp night air to catch a taxi.

* * *

><p>In her on suite bathroom Amber carefully finished applying her makeup and turned her head to inspect it before yelling to Li. "Come on girl you've got to come out sometime."<p>

"No I don't!" Came Li's muffled reply through the closed door that led to Ambers room. "I'm staying right here for the whole party," she declared defiantly.

Amber sighed, taking one last look in the mirror at the extravagant crème dress she wore, the plunging neckline was highlighted by the necklace she always wore. The length went to just below the knee and displayed ample dark leg.

"I'm coming in" Challenged Amber as she slowly opened the door to her room and slipped inside.

Li's expression was one of pure venom as she tugged at the top of the scarlet dress trying to make it sit better. "You know I hate you for making me wear this stuff?" She hissed as she stepped into the matching black shoes.

Amber brushed off the assault carelessly with a wave of her hand, "It's my birthday you had to, a girl only turns eighteen once you know? Besides you look great in it."

Li's sour expression softened slightly from the compliment before assuming a mocking tone. "Whatever, it's not even your birthday until Wednesday your Highness."

Amber rolled her eyes in response before taking on her most regal sounding tone. "Yes well it is my royal party tonight so I will get whatever I want."

Li moved in for the kill with her amused smile "Speaking of things you want, where is Hex? Shouldn't he and Alex be here by now?"

Blazing, Amber biffed her lipstick at the girl before answering with a dirty look. "Hex said they were delayed from Heathrow, but they should be on the ground by now." Her voice had a slightly flat tone to it Li noticed.

"I'm sure they are on there way right now" Li reassured her friend throwing an arm over her shoulder.

"Yea you're right Li" Amber nodded quickly wiping her eye before heading for the door, "Come on lets go give Paulo something to stare at."

* * *

><p>Paulo, however was not short of girls to stare at as more and more of Amber's friends arrived in small groups.<p>

Going to an all girls' boarding school, it made sense to Paulo that most of her friends would also be female. To his delight this seemed to be the case as hordes of teenage girls in stunning dresses and perfect makeup made their way into the mansion.

In his fitted white Argentinean suit that contrasted his olive skin he was getting more then his fair share of glances also. From his position beside the buffet table in the Ballroom, Paulo was content to snack on the kind of food that was reserved for the rich and famous. He felt a bit like a movie star himself as he flashed a cocksure grin and helped himself to one of the many flutes of champagne on the table.

Paulo almost burst out laughing as the bubbles went up his nose and someone softly tapped him on the shoulder.

* * *

><p>A single light bulb swung slowly from the roof of the dank room that John Middleton awoke in.<p>

His neck stung like something had bitten him and every muscle in his body ached. Involuntary tremors rocked his body as muscles spasmodically fired by themselves. He tried to reach a hand to his stinging neck when he realised that his hands were firmly bound to the chair he was sitting in.

Panic began to flare in his head as the details of his assault began to come back to him. He remembered the metallic slide of a van door before he was taken by surprise and manhandled into the vehicle. The constriction of the ropes holding him to the chair seemed to grow tighter around him as his worried mind raced to consider his predicament.

_God I hope Amber's alright, _he solemnly thought to himself.

His train of thought was derailed as the small door to the room opened and two men clad in black confidently walked in. They were both massive with biceps that bulged underneath the dark, long-sleeved turtlenecks they wore. The thugs walked in and stopped either side of the open door as a portly third man walked in. All three wore balaclavas that created a sinister skull like effect in the shadows of the room.

The fat man was obviously in charge and he gestured to one of the men, who quickly walked up behind Johns chair and pulled his head back by a painful grip on his hair.

"Mr. Middleton" The leader formally addressed John in a silky dangerous voice. "I am under the impression that you are quite a wealthy man."

John started to protest but was cut off immediately as the second man pummelled a huge fist into his face, almost knocking him over in the chair. The uncle's head pounded and his vision drifted in waves as the kidnapper behind him dragged him back up by the hair to sit up straight again. Blood leaked from somewhere in his mouth onto his tongue, creating an irony tang that made him feel nauseous. Focusing his vision he looked up at his captor once more.

"I do not like being interrupted, Mr. Middleton." The ringleader admitted sounding almost regretful for what had just happened.

"Now is a time to listen and not to talk. We are after your money and your money alone, we do not want to hurt you but if that's what it takes we will." The interrogator spoke easily, in a local accent but placed his words in an odd order with misplaced inflection, a sign that English may not be his first language.

John's head nodded in acceptance, money being what he had expected they would demand, unfortunately for the kidnappers it was not going to be that simple.

The fat man continued as he paced in front of his hostage. "What is going to happen now Mr. Middleton, is one of my men is going to enter this room with a laptop. Using this device you will electronically transfer twenty million dollars to the account that is preset on screen."

"I can't…" John started to explain before he was silenced with another colossal punch to the head.

He felt bones shatter in his cheek and a couple of teeth smash free from their lodgings as the heavy blow connected. The blood now flowed freely in his mouth and he spat to clear his airway; in detached horror he noticed several bits of teeth disappear in the spray that left his mouth. White lights danced in front of his eyes, occluding his vision as he struggled to keep a grip on his consciousness.

His ears seemed to echo with the mighty blow that had hit him and he barely heard the man in front of him when he talked to him.

"What did I say about interrupting? Let me be clear Mr. Middleton, we can drag this out for days until you do this. My men are quite experienced in working with reluctant investors." He warned the bound and broken man in a heavy New York accent.

The silence following this last statement seemed to stretch for several minutes before John seemed to think it was safe to finally speak up. "I don't have access to that money I'm sorry." He mumbled between weak spluttering coughs that rebelled against the blood sliding down his throat.

John cringed in anticipation of another blow but was surprised to see his interrogator just standing in front of him quietly evaluating. After staring in silence for several minutes he finally gave his verdict. "Maybe you are telling us the truth, maybe you aren't. We will soon find out." He stated in a level voice, the American accent slipping and his dark emotionless eyes searching the battered figure in front of him, before gesturing to his flunkies.

The two henchman for their part simply nodded at their boss as he walked out of the room, before turning back to their prisoner to start delivering massive hits to his chest and abdomen.

Thankfully their prisoner slipped back into unconsciousness, as his body was further broken with each devastating hit.


	3. Chapter 3

Hex and Alex glanced nervously at the extravagant gate in front of them as it opened admitting their taxi onto the grounds of the Middleton mansion.

Instinctively Hex reached for the palmtop that he held concealed in a pouch under his suit jacket. His fingers skipped across the small keys as he tried to focus on writing an email to a friend of his in Spain. It was an impulse he had fostered out of anxiety, seeking shelter from the real world by disappearing into cyberspace.

This time however, it was not working as he kept striking the wrong keys in his frantic need to distract himself.

Alex opted to look out the window, stepping back from the world in that way only he seemed to be able to achieve. The two teens excelled in the ability to withdraw into themselves and seek comfort in the peace that solitude provided. Never the less, it had not been an awkward ride to the mansion.

They both got on really well but were just two people content to hang out without feeling the need to constantly engage in conversation. _In some ways_ Alex reflected with a smile, _it was the sign of a close friend that you don't feel the need to always be talking. _

The smile disappeared as the cab stopped in front of a mighty pair of open oak doors that led through to a massive atrium. Sharing a doubtful stare, the two friends paid the driver and made their way from the cab up the majestic marble steps.

* * *

><p>Paulo turned mid champagne-snort to freeze in place at the familiar girl in front of him. At about the same height as him stood a golden haired girl in a simple yet flattering opal dress. His eyes seemed to brush over the pretty tanned face as his gaze was drawn further down her body and across her ample curves, which were tastefully accentuated by the dress.<p>

"Hey Camilla!" Paulo welcomed with a thousand watt grin, as he pulled the girl into a quick hug using this time to help him reset his eyes to an appropriate height for when they separated. Camilla gently pushed the boy back after a brief hug, to look him up and down before greeting him back. A smile brightened her face. "Hi Paulo, it's great to see you again. How's the hand?"

Paulo presented his hand for her to see, as he flexed the fingers and balled them into a fist. "_Muy bien, Chica._ How is your knee?" "It was lie of course, the two metacarpal he had broken were completely healed now but they still ached a little bit when it was cold. A feeling like broken glass in his knuckles occurred whenever he flexed those fingers too much.

Camilla grinned at the extravagant Argentinean and cocked her hips back slightly to reveal a smooth bronze leg that was topped with a healthy looking kneecap.

"One hundred percent." She announced happily, "The physiotherapy was a bit of a bitch, but I can run on it again now so I've been getting back into shape."

Paulo was prevented from making a flirty comment on her already acceptable shape by the commotion of Amber entering the Ballroom.

It was very much like the arrival of a movie star, as all eyes turned to watch the girl enter and guests started flooding over in droves to exchange greetings with their gracious host. The crowd quickly enveloped Amber as she exchanged kisses on the cheeks and friendly hugs with her adoring crowd of guests.

Camilla rolled her eyes at the extravagant entrance, but was quickly torn from her spite by the sight of a vaguely familiar girl in a red dress trying to slip away from the gathering crowd.

"Hey Li, over here." Camilla yelled across the noisy room catching the Asian girls attention.

Li's face took on a look of horror as she realised she had been spotted by someone who knew her. In defeat Li trudged over to where the girl in blue was standing and greeted her with as much enthusiasm as she could muster in her present state. Camilla was just complementing her friend on the dress when a croaky, disbelieving voice drowned hers out.

"Li is that you?" the Spanish accented voice enquired.

The girl in red pivoted on the spot to find her handsome South American friend standing in his snazzy white suit with a look of shock on his face. Paulo struggled to find words as he stared at his friend like he had never seen her before.

"Wow Li" was all Paulo managed to choke out.

"That's quite enough of that." Li scolded sternly meeting his gaze burning with embarrassment, _damn that Amber_ she cursed internally. Turning back to an amused Camilla she delivered a death stare before stalking off to the bathroom.

* * *

><p>The huffy girl in red stormed right past the two British boys as they apprehensively made their way into the ballroom. Hex's eyes scanned the room, his anxiety levels growing as he saw the expensive clothes and the girls dripping in jewellery. The sparse number of teenage boys their age all wore elegant suit jackets or tuxedos that made the pair feel decidedly shabby in comparison.<p>

The room screamed money with the heavy red velvet curtains and thick marble pillars enclosed by walls covered with gold rimmed paintings and fancy ornaments.

The pounding in his chest increased and he felt beads of sweat roll down his back.

His pounding heart suddenly jumped as he saw the girl he was looking for. She stood amid a group of young people, her pale dress heavily contrasted against her dark skin. A tall darkhaired youth stood beside her, a cocky drunken grin plastered over his face as he slyly slid an arm around her waist. Amber snapped up to give the teen her most withering glance but he took no notice.

His hand started to slide down and Hex felt reality shatter in his head.

His feet had somehow guided him in front of the guy, almost by autopilot and a cold fury took over his mind. Amber jumped away with an outraged look the instant the hand had moved and her anger turned to surprise as she saw the hacker standing behind her with clenched fists, a frightening fierceness emanating from him.

The perpetrator had barely a second to mutter something about his hand slipping before Hex laid into him with a powerful cross.

Mr. Wandering-Hands recoiled back from the blow, blood flowing freely from his nose, his hands flying to his damaged face as he staggered out of range. The pissed off hacker was not finished though and despite Amber yelling his name, he charged head on into his stunned opponent. Hex's crash tackle carried the pair straight into a table of drinks, which promptly collapsed under their combined weight in a flourish of glass and liquid.

As the shock of the sudden attack and the debris of table cleared, Amber could see Hex throw his weight on top of his opponent and sit up to start striking him. The whole room was now watching the commotion with interest.

Hex only got in one decent punch before Alex and Paulo hooked their friend under his arms and dragged him struggling from his cowering opponent.

Hex fought Alex and Paulo's grip as the creep he had punched woozily tried to find his feet.

"Cool it _Hombre._" Paulo urged his friend, tensing his strong arms to maintain a grip.

"You got him Hex, it's over." Alex insisted, his wiry muscles straining as he restrained one side of the enraged teen.

Hex froze in place as a single familiar voice called his name in an icy tone.

"Hex!"

His gaze turned from his opponent, who was getting up with the help of the wall, he felt a wave of fear as Amber came into view instead.

Her face was darkened in a flush and her eyes danced menacingly, Hex had never seen her like this before and it honestly chilled him to his bones.

* * *

><p>"Outside now" Amber whispered in a barely contained voice, before opening a side door that revealed a marble patio area surrounded by garden.<p>

Hex sighed in resignation of his fate before looking at first Alex then Paulo in turn; they wore identical shocked expressions but released him when he gave them a small nod.

His body free of restraint Hex walked straight out into the cold peace of the garden. To his surprise Amber immediately followed behind him walking out the door and closing it behind her. Adrenaline still caused his breathing and heart to run rapid as he turned away to face into the garden, trying to compose himself and quell the sympathetic nervous response.

"Hex" a low voice summoned, the London teen stoically remained where he was.

"Hex" Amber called again, softer this time with more of a plea in her voice.

Hex kept his silence as he stared straight ahead, still trying to calm himself and ignore the small voice calling his name.

Expecting his name to be called again, he was surprised when a soft hand came down on his shoulder instead and guided him to turn back towards the door.

Amber stood waiting for him, an unusual expression held on her face; it was a mix between her usual annoyance and something else.

"You can't just…" She started in a firm voice only to be startled into shock as he snapped back at her angrily.

"I can't just what Amber?" He met her hard stare with one of his own and jerked his shoulder from her grip. Hex's nostrils flared and his broad shoulders rose and fell with each rapid breath.

Amber felt something in her waver under his heated look and a small part of her was afraid seeing her friend so wound up. Amber looked at the angry young man in front of her, his suit was ripped the length of his shoulders and she saw the clenched white knuckles at his side speckled with blood. If it belonged to him or his opponent she didn't know.

She took a steadying breath and tried again,

"You can't just jump into things like that, I was going to handle it okay?"

"Goddamn it Amber you expect me to just stand by when some guy grabs your.." He snarled before cutting himself off, too furious to form full sentences and instead glaring back at the building as if it were the culprit.

"I had things under control, you might have seriously hurt that guy." She insisted, struggling desperately against the mix of emotions that battled inside her.

"Good" Hex grunted back viciously, his anger starting to give way to a sullen emptiness as he once more began to shut himself off.

Amber noticed the flip in his personality as the teen began to introvert himself from her rebuke. It caused a different feeling inside her to win the battle and she closed the distance to take up one of his hands.

"It was extremely sweet of you to stick up for me like that though." Amber admitted her voice softening.

Hex was taken back by the change he felt in the girl and he finally felt the cold seep over him as the adrenaline finally left his system. His hand quickly began to throb with pain and he became aware of the glass that was gouged into his knees. He suddenly became aware of his surroundings, the well kept flowering vines and ornate rose bushes that bordered the outdoor area.

"Nice garden." He commented weakly, gazing around him, trying to break the awkward tension that had grown and let her know that he was calm now.

"New Gardener, he does a pretty good job." Amber explained offhandedly with a small grin as she saw him start to unwind and she chanced a step closer.

Amber was finally able to pull him into her embrace. Her eyes closed as a feeling of completeness and safety washed over. His heart beat right up against hers as they stood together in silence for a full minute before Amber whispered in his ear.

"I've missed you. What took you so long to get here?"

The words echoed in Hex's head as the only the sweetest melody could and he took another breath of her tropical scent before answering.

"I'm here now aren't I?"

The pair leaned apart keeping their torsos pressed together as they took in each other's face. Slowly they began to slip closer and their mutual grips became tighter on each other.

A shrill beeping whine tore the still night air as Amber's cellphone rang. Reluctantly releasing a hand from the hacker Amber slipped a hand down the front of her top to retrieve the small phone. Seeing what she was doing Hex quickly averted his gaze with much regret, as another moment was stolen from them. Amber opened the pink phone to her ear and quietly answered it.

"Hello?"

An indistinct mummer of words issued from the speaker in front of Hex as he watched the girls face shift in confusion.

"No he hasn't, I haven't heard from him."

A second round of conversation rung in Amber's ear causing the look of confusion to stretch further.

"Okay, Thanks Percy." She finished before snapping the flip-top closed.

"Problems?" Hex asked straight away.

"That's Uncle's driver, he was saying that my uncle hasn't turned up for his ride home from the office." Amber answered, biting her lip in agitation.

"He might have just had to work late or something." Hex suggested, trying to reassure the girl.

"Yea maybe, it's just not like him to forget to call if he's going to be late. Tonight especially." Amber mumbled disappointedly as she slipped the phone back down her top and led Hex back to the door.


	4. Chapter 4

John stirred from the depth of unconsciousness only to wish that he hadn't.

His swollen eyes could only open a crack due to the swelling, his whole face was puffy and slightly lopsided from the missing teeth and broken cheek bone. The bitter taste of blood burned the back of his throat and polluted his mouth. With a wave of nausea the injured man keeled forward in the chair to vomit at his feet. John's headache increased tenfold with the retching and he was horrified to see dark red blood splashed through his stomach contents.

He was still coughing and spitting the acidic bile when the door ominously swung open again.

Through the narrow slits that were his vision, he vaguely recognised his rotund interrogator from before.

"Mr. Middleton," he tutted gently, "Are you ready to cooperate with us? I would hate to have to hurt you further."

For not the first time John considered revealing the truth about the money but the love for his niece held his tongue. His paternal instinct to protect his kin overwhelmed even the basic need for survival and he mentally promised himself to give the man nothing even if it meant his death.

"Never" He mumbled with a swollen tongue, spitting globules of blood on the kidnappers shoes.

The interrogator's soft tone disappeared; he was shocked and quietly impressed by the prisoner's determination.

"Maybe we need to try a different approach?"

He mused and shot John a sinister smile before turning to leave the room.

* * *

><p>Paulo and Alex had busied themselves with cleaning up the glass after Amber dragged Hex outside. In awkward silence they had worked as they heard the loud start of the couples argument outside in the garden. They shared a grimace knowing the short temper that Amber kept, the stubbornness of Hex and the number of altercations they had gotten into as a result of these traits in the past. Ultimately the two cared too much about each other to fight for long though and the heated arguments were usually short and quickly made up over.<p>

The volume had slowly lowered outside and the two friends could only assume that the pair outside had now sorted it out and made up.

Alex was disposing of the last of the glass in a bin in the foyer when Li ambushed him, the girl had returned from the bathroom disappointed to have missed the action and pressed Alex for all the details after a short greeting. Alex was trying not to laugh at the sight of his friend awkward in a dress but he gave the best account of what had happened as he could. Li rushed off to go say hi to Hex and to compliment him on a good sturdy right, leaving Alex to return alone to the ballroom.

He was just timidly stepping back into the crowded room when he practically ran straight into Camilla.

The blonde stopped in her tracks her face alight with pleasure as she found the teen she had been waiting for all night. Alex quickly tried to put on a similar expression rather then the mix of confusion and horror he really felt. To the couple it felt so long since they had last seen each other and there was an uncomfortable moment before they embraced and Camilla turned Alex's head in to seek out his lips. For a delightful moment the confusion and guilt in his head disappeared along with the rest of the world as he joined with her soft lips.

The passionate reunion kiss had to end eventually and they separated to be left with a pleasant afterglow.

"Hey" She breathed softly, regaining the ability to talk again and shining her blue eyes into his grey.

The sweet sound of her voice, almost forgotten, shattered his after glow and triggered the sinking feeling of guilt and indecision that had hounded him every waking hour for the last three weeks. The internal shift did not go completely unnoticed by Camilla as she witnessed something sad flicker behind his soulful eyes.

She held her delighted expression with a heart full of hope as he spoke back to her.

"Hey you. Good party?" He returned matching her tone and trying to sound cool and casual.

"It is now." She declared, the sound of his voice enough to raise her spirits and she leaned across to give him another peck on the lips. Linking her hand through his, she started to tug him back towards the ballroom.

She felt resistance to her pull and turned in surprise to see him still standing there staring at her oddly.

"What is it Alex?" she enquired uncertainly, a little bit worried.

Her fear was unfounded though as genuine warmth emanated from the teen as he shyly answered. "I'm sorry it's just I had almost forgotten how beautiful you are."

Something liquefied in the girl at the boy's shy admission and she threw her arms back around him hungry for his kiss again. A slight tear formed in her eyes at the sweet simpleness of it all.

"Alright break it up you too, damn do we need a bucket of water or something?" A mocking drawl commented. Alex opened one eye to see the queen of attitude standing in front of him with a hand on her hip and a coy grin covering her face. On her arm was the King of Punching-Strangers, who looked considerably calmer and more restrained then the last time Alex had seen him. Hex caught Alex's look and flashed him a sly thumbs up before separating from Amber to greet Camilla.

Alex ended up getting a hug from Amber who was still regarding the latest couple with a slight look of suspicion.

"Everything alright Alex?" She quietly asked him pointedly.

"Fine" Alex quickly answered trying to subtly avoid her eyes.

Amber was not so easily discouraged; "Really?" she pressed seeking his face for the truth.

A slight flicker crossed Alex's face before he answered her as coolly as he could, "Yea great, when I'm not holding your boyfriend back from killing other guys."

The distraction had its intended effect and in exchange for avoiding further questions he received a sharp punch in the shoulder instead, followed by a disapproving look.

"Yea real funny, he's not the guy making out in the doorway of my ballroom."

Alex tinged pink at the accusation but he had honestly stopped being so embarrassed since he and Camilla had become an item. He tried for a trademarked Paulo cowboy grin but was dwarfed as the real article appeared with Li at his side. Alex reverted to his usual small slow smile instead.

The team was back together again.

* * *

><p>Bound to the chair John drifted in an out of consciousness, the darkness being preferable to the world of hurt that awaited him each time he came to. In unconsciousness he could also dream of better times and pretend that his imprisonment wasn't real. He dreamed of Christmases with Amber and her parents; spending the evenings staring out at the snow on the ground from beside the fires hearth. He shivered from the cold snow as he awoke in despair to find himself back in his prison.<p>

Not for the first time he felt an acute wave of loss roll over him as he remembered that his brother and sister-in-law were still gone and he was all alone.

The door creaked open in front of him and despair climbed in his throat.

His captor walked straight up to John and crouched down to the same height as him before holding something up for his swollen eyes to see. It was a blurry picture of someone. John blinked realising it was his vision not the picture that was out of focus. Several more blinks and he recognised the picture of his niece and he breathed one word.

"No!"

His captor broke into a predatory grin "Oh you do know her? Because we would hate for something to happen to her now wouldn't we?"

His captive slumped in defeat. "Please I'll do anything just leave Amber alone."

"You know what I want" The large man answered him simply gesturing to the man outside to bring in the laptop.

"I told you I can't do it." John pleaded desperately. _I'm sorry Amber_, he apologised in his head before continuing "The money isn't mine it's sealed in a trust fund that goes to her when she turns eighteen. Only she can touch it."

The fat man considered this turn in events before concluding "Fine we grab her and get her to pay."

"No leave her alone please" the desperate man begged, "Keep me instead, I'm her only family she will pay whatever you ask to get me home safely."

"Hmmm actually that way does make more sense, it gives me leverage if she doesn't want to pay."

John slumped in relief at the mans decision.

"But be warned if you or her try anything funny I'll kill you and send my men to get her instead."

The warning fell on deaf ears as man slipped back into blessed unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>Amber hauled Hex away from the main party and up the massive stairway to her room. Hex simply let himself be led in silence, still recovering from their earlier spat and trying to come to grips with how he lost his cool. An insistent tugging drew him further up the velvety steps as he reflected on what had occurred. The last thing he remembered was walking in with Alex and then he saw that guy with Amber. A rage like nothing he had ever felt boiled up from his depths and the next thing he knew he was arguing with Amber outside.<p>

He cringed as Amber squeezed his hand harder as she drew him through her door before closing it behind them. The hand had started aching something fierce about the same time he finished arguing with Amber.

The girl released his hand as she strutted across the room.

"Lose the jacket and shirt," she ordered, her back still to him, her voice unfathomable.

Hex had to double take at her words and he stared at the long legs and mostly bare back that was left facing him, wondering if he had heard her correctly.

Amber finished crossing the room to her walk in wardrobe where she kicked her shoes off and turned to face him.

"What are you deaf as well as a geek?" She mocked before opening the sliding door to the huge storage space.

A little disbelieving Hex shrugged off his ruined suit jacket and started to undo his tie, he shuddered to think how he would fare having to retie it without Alex's help.

"Come in here Code-boy" The stern voice from the wardrobe commanded.

Apprehensively Hex approached the door, cautious yet curious as to what awaited him on the other side. He slipped the tie off from around his neck and let it lie flaccidly in his hands as he unbuttoned his shirt and stepped into the wardrobe. His eyes boggled at the wall-to-wall racks and shelves of clothes and clothing accessories, the room alone was about as big as his room at home. He broke his gaze from the monument to consumerism that was Amber's collection of clothes to see her standing in front of him with an impatient look on her face.

"Here try this on." She said passing him an expensive designer shirt on a coat hanger.

Hex reluctantly took the white shirt on the hanger and shrugged out of his current tatty one, it dropped to the floor.

Amber felt her breathing start to come faster in her chest as the shirt slid off his large frame, her eyes caught on the large pink scar that ran across his chiselled pectorals.

Hex paused in place as she reached a soft hand out to trace the scar with a slender finger. An odd mix of pleasure and phantom pain from the wound seemed to carve across his chest with the digits progress, causing him to shiver involuntarily.

Amber noticed and quickly withdrew her hand embarrassed.

"Its healed up really well you know?" She commented having to be content tracing the thin raised mark with her eyes instead.

"Well I'm just a patch work of scars now" he drawled reaching quickly for the shirt on the coat hanger.

Once more Amber stopped him with gentle hand on his shoulder as she turned him on the spot. Her breathe now racing in and out of her at the chance to touch his flesh again, Amber halted his turn to lift his arm and inspect the minor scarring on his flank. It was barely noticeable as just a small series of pink dots and nicks that was all that remained of the shrapnel he had taken over six months ago. Allowing him to lower his clearly defined arm, she turned him until his back was to her exposing the majority of his scarring.

Amber gasped.

Worse then his flank, Hex's back was completely covered with a peppering of small pink marks and tiny indents. Amber's dark hands splayed across his marred skin to draw the tapestry of injury tight as she inspected it. Her eyes moistened as she felt the teen stiffen under her hands and start to move. Muscles moved beneath her hands as Hex slid his arms in the sleeves of the fresh shirt and let the back of it fall to cover Ambers hands on his back.

Fighting her hands, he stepped away from her to button the shirt up with his back to the disappointed girl.

"It's a good fit," Hex mumbled turning around with a solemn expression on his face, "Any point asking why you have guys clothes in your closet?" he asked neutrally trying to keep his face unreadable.

"Oh and just what are you implying Hex?" She glared at him venomously.

Under the heavy scrutiny and recognising a potentially life-threatening event, Hex quickly slipped into damage control and tried to defuse the bomb.

"That's not what I…. I didn't mean…. Uh nothing." He stuttered, the defence sounding a lot more logical in his panicked mind.

Amber looked at him in disdain and sighed "I actually got it all for you." She mumbled quietly, "I wasn't sure if you know… If you had a suit and stuff."

Despite a pang of hurt Hex laughed the comment off. "Well I did, but as you saw it's a terrible fit and is now pretty much in strips after my scuffle in the ballroom."

Amber appreciated Hex's attempt to play down her tactless comment and she handed him another coat hanger with an Armani suit on it.

"I might step out of here while you get changed into the rest of it." She suggested filled with silent regret.

Stepping out of the wardrobe, Amber moved across to the bathroom to check her make up as she waited for her friend to get changed.

"You still haven't given me your present yet Hex" She reminded him lightly through the separating door.

"That's because it's not your birthday yet" He retorted in an amused tone.

Amber scowled, having to wait for what she considered her most important present.

She was pleased to see the shirt was a perfect fit; her years of interaction with him had left her with a pretty good idea of his dimensions. The width of his shoulders and his broad chest seemed to be shapes burnt into her memory by their majesty and the few chances she was able to touch them. She knew his height to be exactly right for her to rest her head on his chest, her head only just reaching his shoulders.

All in all these were difficult measurements to convey to any tailor but her uncles suit maker had been especially patient and skilled.

_Uncle_.

The word jumped out at her from her thoughts and she wondered again where he was and why he hadn't called. A splinter of worry was now firmly embedded in her mind, aching with each moment reminding her of his absence. As if on que two things occurred; first Hex stepped from the closet wearing a new suit and trousers and secondly Amber's small phone began to ring.

The trilling of the latest pop song of the day stopped Hex as he began to thank his friend profusely for the fancy clothes. Remembering where Amber kept her phone he quickly shifted his gaze from her as she retrieved the device.

Amber felt bubbles of relief rise within her as she noted the caller ID as her uncle.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N- **Chapter dedicated to emmadactryl and I read not write, who enjoyed my last story and felt inclined to leave such kind reviews after starting this one. I'll try to keep the standard as high as the last one guys ;) More chapters to follow.

-**Grey.**

* * *

><p>"Hello Uncle," She answered in a conversational tone, trying not to convey the worry she had felt.<p>

"Amber Middleton?" A cold distorted voice enquired.

"Who wants to know?" She carefully replied, suspicion and dread creeping forward in her head.

"The men who have your uncle" The sinister voice responded impatiently, "And if you ever want to see him again you will do exactly as we say."

Ambers world was destroyed in an instant by this short sentence, she felt herself sinking to her knees as Hex ran over to her. Amber's usually dark features appeared a dusky grey, as all blood drained from face in shock. Hex shook his friend's shoulder trying to question her but his words fell on deaf ears. Her ears could only hear the last sentence of the kidnapper echoing in her head, repeating over and over.

After what seemed like an age, she realised the voice was waiting for a response and screwing up her courage she replied.

"What do you want?" Amber asked, trying to keep her pitch level.

"Twenty million dollars electronically transferred to an account of our choice in exchange for your uncles life."

"How do I know you haven't killed him already?" She demanded a mix of anger and fear invading her tone.

A muffled clicking and banging came across the line before a strained yet familiar voice spoke. "Hello? Amber?"

"Uncle!" Amber sobbed into the receiver, "They haven't hurt you?"

"Nothing serious Dear, listen please listen, they have already proved to me how serious they are just give them whatever they want ."

John Middleton was cut off as his captor took the handset back from him to issue further instructions.

"In two days you turn eighteen and are granted access to you trust fund. By 0800 that morning you will have deposited twenty million dollars into my bank account or you never see your uncle again." The kidnapper explained, their voice distorted by a sound encryption. "I will text the account number tomorrow."

"If you go to the police John Middleton dies and we come for you next"

The sinister robotic tone finished, before ending the call with a resounding click.

* * *

><p>On the dance floor downstairs a different couple were facing their own truths in an uncomfortable silence.<p>

A naturally awkward teen, Alex tried his best to dance with his pretty partner. He couldn't help but think that it looked much easy in the movies to dance romantically with the girl, unchoreographed and in front of all your friends. While he appreciated the proximity he got to spend to his beautiful girlfriend, he felt certain his clumsy efforts were detrimental to any romantic mood a slow song was supposed to create.

The dance itself seemed to disappear though as the couple made eye contact in their corner of the room unaware of the world and swaying gently to the soft song. Staring into Camilla's beautiful face he couldn't help but wonder, not for the first time, how he had ever ended up with such a good-looking girl in the first place. It was unusual, one part of him couldn't take his eyes off the stunning young lady but another part could barely stand to look at her. A mix of an unrivalled love with the poison of guilt he felt from his weeks of neglectful behaviour.

The sour cocktail of emotions made Alex feel like throwing up and he quietly looked for a distraction.

With Princess Amber upstairs with her Prince, attention was drawn elsewhere, his girlfriend attracting a fair deal of it. As Alex pivoted slowly in place observing the leering of a couple of Amber's creepier looking guests he really couldn't blame Hex for his earlier violence.

_If these guys don't find their eyes and put them back in their sockets I might have to do a Hex_ he thought heatedly to himself. _Hey I wonder if that could become a thing? 'Pulling a Hex?' _he contemplated, his anger giving way to humour. _To completely rage out in a righteous fashion and kick someone's arse: _Alex defined internally. _I've got to see what Paulo thinks, it could really catch on, _he concluded.

Alex's slightly weird thoughts were suddenly broken by Camilla's sweet voice at his shoulder.

"What's wrong Alex? You seem a million miles away tonight."

Grey eyes wavered from their potential opponents to take in the lovely creature in his arms instead. He felt a pain somewhere inside of him seeing the hurt and confusion in such a pretty face. Alex tried for a nervous smile and brought her two hands to his chest and meeting her eyes.

"Just a bit of jetlag I think. Can we maybe step out of here for a minute or two?"

A look of thorough relief crossed Camilla's face, "Oh god yes, I can't stand this high society crap! I'm actually wearing a dress."

Alex laughed out loud, a sound full of affection for the likeminded girl, before looking back at her with his eyes alight.

"And you look very pretty in it" He responded honestly and automatically.

"Should we step outside for some fresh air then Cammy?" He asked using his pet name for her and offering his arm, as she shied away embarrassed by his open compliment.

She nodded, regaining her composure and squeezing his hand in thanks.

"Anywhere to get away from the creeps in here" she said in disgust, shooting a look of pure disdain at a seedy looking guy nearby.

"I'm in half a mind to go all Hex on one of them." Alex replied without thinking, between gritted teeth as they crossed the space to the door.

"Go all Hex on them? Did you just make that up now?" She asked him in confusion as he opened the door for her.

"Actually yeah." He admitted a bit taken back having spoken aloud his peculiar thoughts.

Camilla giggled, "That's actually quite funny I could so see that catching on."

"I know, right?" Alex exclaimed and they settled onto a bench on the patio laughing.

The laughter continued for a few more seconds before Camilla turned to look up at Alex seriously and ran a hand over his smooth-shaven, angular jaw.

"I've missed you." She softly uttered, the affection in her eyes evident but intermingled with a tinge of sadness.

Alex felt overwhelmed by her simple sentiment of love and slowly guided her face into his to deliver a firm kiss to her lips. He let it linger to describe the pent up emotion he felt, the internal conflict that raged inside of him and the one thing he knew for certain. It was a breathless Camilla who leaned back from him wide eyed to evaluate his face.

"Well that was… just .. Wow. Answers my first question I guess." She stumbled through her words, still blown away. Pausing to regain her composure once more, she started again. "Damn I hate how you do that to me." She confessed half annoyed.

"But something is up, you've been acting so weird around me lately. What is going on Alex?" Camilla questioned him, her azure eyes poised.

Alex sighed deeply sinking his head in defeat, his façade broken under her light scrutiny.

"Is it the whole long distance thing?" She probed "Because I know it's hard but I think we are making it work and hopefully it isn't for too much longer anyway."

Alex shook his head sadly, "It's not that…" He started but was cut off as the door swung open and the outline of Paulo filled the door.

Camilla sighed _what the hell was it with these friends and their terrible timing when it came to interrupting each other?_

"Can you give us a minute here Paulo?" She asked in a frosty voice.

Stepping from the silhouette of light the South American shook his head sadly and the couple saw the serious expression he was burdened with.

"Something has happened." He explained grimly.

* * *

><p>Alex and Camilla followed Paulo back into the ballroom still in a state of shock. John Middleton; their benefactor, greatest supporter and a good friend, held to ransom. The first thing they heard as they entered the large room was Amber's voice loudly addressing the audience.<p>

"Party is over sorry folks. Thank you for coming everyone but if you could make for the nearest exit it would be much appreciated."

The crowd looked at each other in confusion as Hex killed the sound system and Li pulled open the door to the atrium.

"This is not a joke, I'm serious people it is time for you all to leave." Amber reinforced, her voice starting to lose its politeness.

Camilla noticed the faint streaks of Mascara that framed her eyes and ran the length of her cheeks.

"Jeez Amber looks like she's starting to get pissed off." Alex warned

"If people don't start leaving soon she is going to Hex out on someone." Camilla agreed with a sly grin to Alex.

Paulo nodded dumbly before realising what she had said and chuckling "Hex out? Ha, I like it! Did you guys come up with that?"

The pair nodded with small smiles despite the terrible news they had just received and the serious situation in front of them.

"It could become a thing right?" Alex appealed.

Paulo nodded enthusiastically "Absolutely _hombre_. Oh look she really is getting her Hex on now." He crowed, delighted at the chance to put their new term to use.

It was a just call too, as a furious Amber ushered people out through the door, shouting at and pushing the more reluctant guests. Hex and Li hung at the outskirts, helping her out as best they could while staying out of her firing line.

With all the guests fleeing it was quickly only the six friends left in the ornate room and they gathered towards the centre.

"Well that's the guests taken care of." Li noted satisfied.

"So you've all been brought up to speed?" Amber asked her friends in a small voice.

One by one they all nodded morosely.

"So what are we going to do?" Amber questioned them quietly in a fragile voice.

Li placed an arm across her friend's shoulders and put forward her suggestion. "We are Alpha Force right? We rescue him, this is just the sort of thing we have trained for."

"On principle alone I agree with Li." Hex started choosing his words carefully, "But I think our top priority must be your uncles safety and we don't know if attempting a rescue will risk that."

"Can we just pay them the money? No amount of money is worth your uncles life." Paulo elaborated.

Amber nodded, the last suggestion aligning with her opinion; the money basically meant nothing to her.

"But does paying them guarantee his safety?" Camilla added in a timid voice, "What's their incentive to keep him alive once they have been paid?"

She thought back to the dozen or so kidnappings she had heard of in Africa where money changed hands but the hostage remained missing.

Alex was, by nature inclined to agree with Camilla but this time he also thought she raised a valid point. Hostages spent long periods of time with their captors and therefore had the greatest ability to identify them to the police if they were released. Eliminating any potential witnesses was one way these scum of society ensured their continuing freedom.

Amber looked lost and helpless as she watched the ideas bounce from her friends and the indecision that resulted from the disorder.

Alex whistled loudly, bringing the arguing group to silence.

"There is some good discussion here but we need to make some decisions because the trail is getting colder the longer we stand here talking." Alex noted with his usual calm voice.

Hex spoke up "I think the decision should be Amber's" He firmly suggested, "It's her Uncle and her they are targeting."

There was a general nod of agreement at that idea.

"So what do you want us to do?" Li asked her friend gently.

Amber's dark eyes swum but with a strong voice she made her decision. "We find these bastards and get my uncle back."

The group matched her determined look and started to pool ideas as to how they could do it.

"I guess our two big questions are who has taken him and where they are holding him." Li mused.

"When would they have snatched him?" Paulo asked his friends.

Amber thought about it for a minute.

"It must have been when he was between work and his limo." She concluded, remembering the call from his driver.

"Okay so that's where we start then." Alex resolved, "Hex can you access security camera feeds in the area along his route to the limo?"

Hex nodded firmly before drawing his palmtop to get to work.

Camilla noted Amber's worried expression and sought to reassure her. "Don't worry Amber we will find something. We've still got a couple of days before we reach the payment deadline."


	6. Chapter 6

The group adjourned to the more comfortable lounge to give Hex a better position to work from and also to grab some refreshments to keep them going.

Alpha Force was on it's second round of gourmet mini-quiches when Hex sat up from his palmtop in triumph and turned it's screen so the others could see. Dark footage showed the dramatic kidnap in all its sombre detail. The group gave a collective gasp as they watched the men in black assault and abduct John Middleton. Hex squeezed Amber's hand in support as he witnessed the pain it caused her to watch the traumatic event.

"Okay so we can see where and when it happened." Camilla noted breaking the heavy silence.

"The who might prove difficult because of the balaclavas, but from what we can see they seem to be fairly organised as far as a plan and equipment goes." Alex mused with a grave look spreading across his face.

"Are you thinking maybe it's a professional job Alex?" Hex enquired sharply, turning to his friend.

"Maybe, it certainly looks like that way; very organised and watch the way the guys move; they all look so fluid like they've done it before." Alex admitted, voicing the subtle observations he had made.

"It certainly looked smooth, those guys were good." Paulo agreed sadly.

"Can you rewind this footage a bit Hex?" Amber asked, trying to ignore the implications of a professional kidnapping.

The hacker grunted in affirmation and started to play the feed in reverse.

"Stop!" Amber shouted as she pointed her finger at the small screen, "Magnify," She commanded.

Hex increased the zoom where Amber's finger was pointed.

A number plate came into view with blurry, but readable letters and numbers, the dark-skinned girls face lit in triumph.

"Alright we got a plate, now what?" Li asked, excited to finally have a lead.

"We find the van, maybe we find your uncle." Paulo suggested.

"I'm sending the plate to a friend of mine who operates a special vehicle tracking program that might give us its location." Hex declared without looking up from his screen as he navigated the small device with rapid keystrokes.

"Ok sounds good. Lets get organised to move at a moments notice then." Alex decided his brain snapping to work, prioritising what they needed.

"Everyone get changed into something more appropriate and clutch up anything you want to take with you on an urban mission. Paulo can you work with Amber and sort us some transport?"

"I'll keep digging here." Hex stated shrugging off his jacket and stretching his fingers in preparation for some serious hacking.

Five minutes later the six teenagers were standing back in the lounge doing last minute checks on their equipment. The standard look seemed to be clothes in dark colours that covered up as much skin as possible, with the occasional long jacket for the possibility of concealing extra equipment. A pained look crossed Alex's face as he noticed Camilla in similar attire and looking determined.

He had quietly not wanted her to get involved again with the danger their work often involved. Last time she had almost been killed several times and now with things between them out in the open he wasn't sure he could go through that agony again.

"Got it!"Hex announced, causing his friends to gather in around him eager to get the location. Amber had to restrain herself from hugging the young hacker in appreciatation.

Hex's friend had tracked the vehicle to an underpass on the outskirts of New York City and the team was fizzing to get out the door to go and check it out.

Paulo held up a hand to bring silence to the excited group. "Problem; our ride can only take a max of five," He announced to a stunned group as they realised someone was going to have to remain behind.

With a sigh Hex sat back down again, "I guess I'll stay here then, I wanted to do some research into recent kidnappings and any groups that were held accountable anyway. I guess I can do it from back here and maybe help coordinate your effort out on the street." The London teen looked quite sullen as he withdrew his palmtop from his pouch again and got back to work.

Amber was a bit startled by the idea of her special friend staying behind and she immediately felt decidedly less safe leaving the house.

The remaining five looked at each other and Alex saw his opportunity. "I think someone should stay back here with Hex to help him with his research and run operations from this end. Camilla do you mind?" He asked trying to keep his voice steady and make the request sound normal.

Camilla looked back at Alex; confused and a little bit hurt, she nodded before dumping her daypack loudly and dragging up a seat.

The rest of the group turned on the spot to make for the car that Amber had arranged, Alex shared one last lingering look with his girl before she broke his gaze sadly and turned to help Hex.

The four friends piled into the nondescript BMW that Amber had brought around from the garage and the tense journey to the vans location began.

* * *

><p>In what felt like no time at all, Amber was double checking her GPS unit and telling Paulo to pull over to the side of the road in a dilapidated suburb of New York City. Collectively the group's heads scanned the area looking for the van from the surveillance video, it was Li who eventually spotted it parked in the shadows under an overpass.<p>

"Over there!" she exclaimed with barely contained enthusiasm.

Paulo had barely parked the vehicle and applied the handbrake before Amber was climbing out of the passenger seat and moving towards the shady van. In a haste to catch up with their friend, the rest of Alpha Force piled from the vehicle and followed Amber, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.

The girl strode right up to the van where it was partially obscured by a wide concrete support pillar, the noise of traffic passing overhead drowned out the warning cries of her friends. Amber stopped short of the van and noted there was noone in the cab, before placing a hand on the door handle of the slide door and pulling with all her might. The shrill crescendo of metal on metal contrasted heavily against the riot of traffic as the door slid open.

The rest of Alpha Force had just caught up as Amber slid the door open to reveal the seat-less interior of the van, which was completely devoid of inhabitants. Amber slumped in disappointment, hiding her eyes from her friends as they peered into the interior of the large vehicle. Alex had to restrain himself from opening the narrow lockers that ran along the bottom of one wall. He was sure Hex would be excited by the wide array of monitors and communication equipment that stood beside it.

"Hmmm I wonder where the guys from the van went?" Paulo pondered as his eyes raked the uninhabited vehicle, his mechanics eye drawn in by the tyre iron in the doorwell and the bag full of tools beside it.

Li froze in place a few steps back from the van, her eyes widening in shock.

"I don't think they went very far at all." She revealed as the rest of the group's attention was drawn from the darkened vehicle they had been inspecting.

Slowly flanking the group from either side of the van were four men dressed in black.

* * *

><p>The group's attention was divided as they tried to watch all four at once and they ended up facing two different ways with their backs pressed close together. Li and Paulo faced towards the cab of the van facing two burly opponents who were slowly and confidently closing the distance. Directly behind them, Alex and Amber planted their feet defensively in the opposite direction as they squared off against another large opponent and his wiry companion. Focusing on the middle distance and keeping their eyes directed at about chest height on their foes, Amber didn't immediately recognise the smaller man opposite her.<p>

Their opposition stopped about two metres away from the friends and finally one of the men spoke in a gruff voice.

"I don't know what the hell you kids are doing snooping around our van here, but I think it is time you leave."

Relief flushed through Alex as he saw an opportunity for them to walk away from the situation safely. _We know it's the right van anyway and now we have some faces to trace too_ he concluded in his head in triumph as the four men left an opening for the group to pass through. His feeling of success was blown out of the water as an accented voice halted the group in its tracks.

"Wait guys, this is the targets niece; Amber."

Alpha force whirled at the sudden change in circumstances and Amber recognised in shock, the smaller man of the bunch who had just spoken. He was the new gardener her uncle had hired a few weeks back.

"Miguel!" She shrieked in outrage and confusion. _So this is how they knew where my uncle would be and it explains how they knew about my trust fund, _Amber seethed in fury.

Her friends stared in stunned confusion as Amber carried on.

"You fucking snake! We let you live on our property and you goddamn sold us out!" Amber growled her voice dripping with malice.

The Latino man laughed coldly at her outburst, "Maybe your stingy Uncle should have paid me a bit more to keep your gardens?"

The larger man beside Miguel sneered his ugly flat face at the childish displays in front of him before gruffly speaking again.

"Well this changes things. We take her back to the boss and this whole mess gets sorted a whole lot quicker."

"What about the extras?" one of the other thugs enquired in a harsh tone.

"Kill em," The leader snarled, "They've seen our faces and we only need this one alive." He finished pointing at Amber.

"Come and get us then." Li dared raising her guard, her palms outwards in a fighting stance. Her friends quickly mirrored her position and started sizing up their opponents.

The four men around the outside raised their fists and began to circle into attacking range on Alpha Force.

"Oh I'm going to enjoy giving it to this snobby little bitch." Miguel crowed at Amber, "I won't kill her, but nothing says I can't smack her around a bit to bring her in."

"We'll see who gets smacked around." Amber corrected as she danced forward agilely and broke the scrawny mans nose with a straight palm strike.

The traitor collapsed to his knees with a scream and a swollen nose that was pissing blood, Amber for her part simply darted back into line beside Alex.

Adrenaline rushed through the teen's veins and pulses began to skyrocket as Alpha Force braced itself for the imminent onslaught.


	7. Chapter 7

It was Alex's opposite who lead the assault charging in soundlessly towards the boy from Northumbria.

Alex felt his whole body freeze as his mind frantically tried to interpret the over saturation of data being provided by his heightened senses. Muscle memory finally kicked in and the years of sparing that Alpha Force did finally triggered his body to move. The teen turtled his head into his shoulders and brought both his arms up high to protect his head from assault.

The leaders heavy cross fell upon Alex's raised forearms knocking the boy backwards from the blow, but sparing him from the brunt of the hit and missing his vulnerable spots. Alex's head seemed to vibrate with the force of the hit, his teeth rattled in his skull and all thoughts were shook from his mind.

Acting out of instinct, Alex bent his knees low to brace the blow before springing forward to pop in a blunt elbow across the mans temple. His oversized opponent grunted as his head was knocked off axis by the effective strike and he was forced to take a large step to the side to regain his balance.

* * *

><p>Li had taken the offensive, leaving no space for death to enter, and ploughed into her opponent straight away with a powerful push kick to the solar plexus. The straight kick covered the distance between the two fighters with ease and Li summoned huge amounts of energy through her well-toned long legs.<p>

Despite his greater size and musculature the critical hit near the mans diaphragm was the chink in the biology of man's armour. His diaphragm was rocked with spasms and the man doubled over in crippling pain unable to draw a breath.

Li pressed home her advantage and cradled the ailing foes head in a butterfly grip to turn his head around and draw it down into an uprising knee. Her knee smashed into the villains jaw from the side with colossal force, its crunching impact broke the fighters mandible and knocked him into unconsciousness. Li planted her foot again breathing hard as the man rolled out of her grip into a heap on the floor, she brushed blood and tooth fragments off her pants before turning to see how the others were doing.

* * *

><p>The large Argentinean's fight had started off significantly worse then the others, having never been the quickest at bringing his guard up he wore a glancing jab to the face that jarred him off balance. His eye smarting and his head reeling from the blow, Paulo barely had time to duck the powerful haymaker that would have taken off his head.<p>

Before he had a chance to dodge again he was pummelled in the sternum by a wicked right cross.

In a panic and desperate not to be hit again, Paulo finally brought his hands up to protect his head and bent his knees to recoil. With a limited arsenal to choose from, Paulo rolled his shoulders back in his hunched guard and ripped an uppercut through the gap between him and his opponent. The shot caught his enemy just under the jaw and popped the mans head back in response.

Having created some room to move, Paulo stood up straighter and pushed a jab into the mans chest before stepping back to create some distance. With a widened space between them Paulo stood and took a moment to clear his head and consider his move.

Big mistake.

His opponent spat out a gob full of blood before reaching into his jacket for a weapon, not wishing to make the mistake of fighting on a level playing field again.

* * *

><p>With Miguel disabled Amber circled and darted in at Alex's opponent trying to divide the man's attention and help her friend. She sprung in from behind and launched a snap kick to the bulky foes knee as he sidestepped away from Alex. The kick was hard and well placed but the man seemed barely to have felt it.<p>

Blindly the man swung a backfist that just caught Amber across the ridge of her eyebrow. Her head exploded in stars as she was knocked back from the huge man, dazed and fighting to keep her feet. She dropped to a knee at what she considered a safe distance as she tried to settle her thumping head enough to get back into the fray.

Alex took advantage of Amber's distraction to unleash a barrage of body shots upon the bad guys ribs and head. Adrenaline leant the teen strength and despite the mans bulk, he was driven back the fierceness of the attack. His retreat reached equilibrium before he came to a stop and ended Alex's assault with a sturdy push rocked Alex back over his heels and he stumbled to regain his balance.

Expecting to see the villain to be charging him down, Alex was surprised to see the man instead regain his balance and dig into a pocket on his trousers.

A flash of random light glanced off the sinister blade that he drew with an evil grin.

Tthe knife was a simple sturdy locking blade, with an sinister curve to its well worn edge. Blood grooves on the blade left Alex with little doubt that this was a purpose built fighting knife, designed for the sole purpose of killing.

An icy shudder of fear ran down Alex's spine and he reluctantly drew his own blade from its sheath. The blackened blade in his hand gave him little comfort as he watched the fighter in front of him hold his own blade in a loose underhand grip, the knife pointing towards the teen. Fear threatened to overwhelm Alex as he recognised an experienced bladesman in front of him.

Things had just cranked up a notch.

He quietly whispered promises to himself and tried to remember everything his dad had ever taught him about knife fighting in their carefree days of playing with breadknives on the lawn at home. With his chest still heavy with an ominous foreboding, Alex stepped forward and began mimicking his opponent in circling.

* * *

><p>Ambers mind sobered quickly at the sight of the armed men facing off with death in their hands. In horror she noticed the uncertain look in Alex's eyes as he kept his distance and raised his knife warily.<p>

_He doesn't seem half as confident against this guy _Amber noticed, _this guy must be a pro_ she realised in shock. Things had suddenly got completely out of control, the instant knives came into a fight, quite simply someone was going to get cut. _Alex up against an opponent who was used to fighting with a knife could really only go one way_ Amber concluded, frightened for her friend.

Realising that Alex however still had something that this other fighter didn't she ignored her pounding heart and got to her feet.

Amber rushed in between the two circling men causing them to halt in surprise.

"Amber? What are you…?" Alex started in disbelief before being cut off by his brave friend.

"You can't stab me," She spat at the man, "You need me alive to get my money."

Bleak realisation dawned in the thug's eyes as he stared at the dark girl and carefully he lowered his blade.

"Now!" Amber screamed diving out of the way and allowing Alex to lunge forward.

His opponent clicked to the subterfuge at the very last second and slid his torso aside, causing Alex's dark knife to only slash along one of his flanks rather then sinking into his abdomen.

With cat like reflexes the fighter then drew his blade up from its sunken position to stab into the underside of Alex's tricep.

The black blade dropped from Alex's weak grasp, as he screamed in agony at the unforgiving length of metal that penetrated his arm. Bright red blood began pumping from around the hilt of the knife, changing to forceful squirt as the attacker withdrew the cruel blade with a terrible sluicing noise. The slush that accompanied the knives withdrawal also brought with it small ragged strips of muscle, adding to the surreal image that faced Amber.

* * *

><p>Paulo's eyes widened in surprise as his foe pulled a short black device that looked almost like a TV remote with two probes at the top. A short crackle of blue lightening surged between the two terminals as the man tested the weapon and Paulo realised what he was now facing. Remembering the kick from the cattle prods on the farm, he shifted uneasily, reluctant to find out how painful a stun weapon designed for immobilisation and disabling would be.<p>

His enemy covered the distance quickly, eager to give Paulo a taste of the device.

The stun gun was thrust at him before he knew it and it was all he could do to throw his arms and shoulders forward to counterbalance, as he withdrew his stomach and chest. His opponent twisted the stunner in mid air trying to find a part of the body to make contact with. Paulo wore a glance to his arm from the device and almost collapsed as the powerful current sent a quick jolt through his body. With little else he could think to do, Paulo clamped one of his raised arms around the weapon hand and turned his body away from his opponent to isolate the limb and wrestle for the weapon.

With two hands against one, the teen managed to take control of the device but only after breaking several of his opponent's fingers with a brittle snap. The stunner now in his hands, he turned back to face the man and plunged the tines deep into his midriff. A surge of electricity powered through the metal contacts to overwhelm the man's nervous system as Paulo broke contact from him and allowed the seizing foe to drop.

His whole body thrumming with pain and feeling sick to his stomach, Paulo wasn't even given a moments rest before a cry from Amber drew his attention.

* * *

><p>Alex stumbled back in disbelief his whole arm feeling numb, automatically he brought his free hand underneath the wound to try and stem the bleeding. He felt his blood, his lifeforce slowly slipping between his fingers and out onto the dirty streets. He squeezed harder and staggered dizzily further from his attacker to fall with his back against the van.<p>

Amber watched all of this in disgust and growing rage. She whirled on her heel to face the perpetrator who still held the bloody knife and wore a look of triumph.

"Are you finished playing yet or would you like more of your friends to die?" He asked in a rough voice.

Her voice seemed to fail her until she noticed the looming shadow behind the cold mans back.

"Funny you mention friends," Amber drawled eyeing the man with disgust but with an edge of attitude. "Because I seem to still have most of mine."

The opponent turned too late at the cryptic threat and the tyre iron that Li wielded smashed into his head with a hollow tonking noise, pummelling the man off his feet. Amber leapt forward on the fallen man before he could get up as Li wrapped the heavy pipe across his throat and applied pressure.

Partly immobilised by Li's choke, the villain struggled as Amber furiously fought his giant hands for control of the blade.

A gagging noise issued from their opponent as he fought for breath and tried to plunge his knife upwards at the girl who was choking him. Amber, who had lost her grip on the blade for a second, frantically dived forwards to flatten the knife's trajectory before it could reach another friend of hers. Two dark hands fell on the weapon hand, carrying all the weight of a frightened and angry teenage girl.

The blade fell from its intended path and instead fell onto its owner, plunging deeply into the gap between the collarbone and the shoulder with a wet slush of displaced flesh.

Amber withdrew her hands shocked as bright red blood erupted around the enclosed blade and drenched the whole chest of the man. Li unwrapped the pipe from the mans throat before holding it out to Amber to help pull her to her feet. The two girls looked down at the doomed man in front of them as he exsanguinated, his colour draining from him almost as quickly as his blood.

Remembering a similar bleed, Amber looked around in shock for Alex and saw him being tended to by a battered looking Paulo. As her eyes turned back to Li she noticed the fleeing shape of Miguel as he suddenly found his feet and ran off into the night. Without a second's hesitation Amber took off from the mark at a full blown sprint after her now Ex-gardener. Li turned in time to see the man disappear also but hesitated, turning back to check with Paulo.

"Go help her!" He shouted, "I'll take care of Alex, we'll catch up."

With her friend's consent she turned to follow Amber into the night.


	8. Chapter 8

Hex sat hunched over his laptop his fingers tapping away in a blur as he navigated through pages and pages of code, broke encryptions and sourced information from several sites he shouldn't have access to. He had also put out messages to all his contacts in the online community to trawl for any information on shady organisations that might perform a kidnapping for ransom. There were considerably more then he had expected and he started the harrowing task of filtering the results to those that fit the region and style of John's kidnapping.

Hex ran the results through a program he quickly designed to sift through the results and leave behind only results that fit his criteria. With the program now doing the work for him, he looked up at the sullen girl who was sharing the lounge with him.

Camilla had been moping since the rest of Alpha Force had left. She had tried to help Hex with his search but the truth of the matter was that he didn't really need her help with it at all so now she felt useless. To keep herself busy she had found a large whiteboard, on which she had stuck up pictures from the kidnapping and written down notes that had been dictated to her by the hacker.

Hex sipped his long cold tea as he considered the girl.

_At least I was useful enough to make the tea _she thought bitterly to herself as she clutched her cellphone in one hand and the tracking unit for Alpha Force in the other. Apart from receiving a single text from Alex to say that they were at the destination she had heard nothing and felt thoroughly dejected.

"Good tea" Hex commented weakly trying to break the awkward silence that had slowly built. Camilla snorted with laughter at the ridiculous prospect and looked up gratefully at the teen from London.

"Thanks" she mumbled not referring to the tea at all.

Hex chuckled with her and finished the cold milky drink with a grimace.

_When his damn computer isn't distracting him he isn't bad company, _Camilla remembered with a grin. She also remembered Alex secretly confiding in her that he thought that Hex didn't seem to use his palmtop as much as he used to, especially around Amber. The secret turned her smile sly as she remembered the events from earlier that evening.

_Alex? _The teens name stuck in her head, and hung on her tongue with a question mark beside it. _What was up with him? _She wondered in silent confusion.

Throwing caution to the wind she decided to confront Hex about it.

"Hex?" She asked tentatively, "Has Alex said anything to you about me lately?"

Hex switched to a thoughtful look as he considered the question.

"Our friend Alex," He slowly began, "As you may have noticed, is a quiet guy, very introspective and kept to himself. He's never mentioned any girls in his life at any time in the past."

Camilla nodded glumly, unable to hide her disappointment. Hex continued.

"Oh wait" he corrected himself with a mischievous grin. "There was that one time with the tequila at Paulo's on New Years. But I digress." Camilla couldn't help but giggle realising she had another story to pry out of Alex now.

"Nowadays however, whenever me and him catch up all he ever seems to talk about is you. 'Camilla this and Camilla that.'" Hex finished with the last part in imitation of the Geordie accent that made her chest shudder. She giggled again partly in humour, partly in relief as her greatest fears were dispelled.

"Okay then," She blushed slightly, now knowing that she was a topic of their conversation and wondering how much Alex divulged.

"Do you think he has been acting strange then? Especially around me?" Camilla asked, still trying to get some answers.

Hex bit his lip, reluctant to betray one of his best friends and trying to decide how much to say.

"Hex?" She called pointedly, having caught his indecisive expression.

Hex was saved having to make that decision by a small tone from his laptop. With great relief he picked up the small computer again to read his results. "Check this out" he answered her with instead.

Camilla sighed and came to sit down next to him, knowing it was futile to try and push on their previous conversation as Hacker-Hex took over. "Taken Incorporated" She read off the screen before giving her friend a confused look.

Hex took the device back off to read more "Strong New York mob connections, a professional outfit consisting of mainly ex-military and former police personnel." Hex read the rest of the results. "Responsible for over ninety percent of high profile kidnappings and ransom in America, I think we have found our guys." The hacker declared with a serious stare.

"Jeez they sound like bad news." Camilla admitted grimly.

"Yea no kidding. I think I'll do a bit more digging and see if there is anything I can find that will help us."

Camilla nodded and suddenly her phone buzzed with a text on the table. The blonde flipped open the mobile and her eyes grew in shock at the words she read on screen.

Found van ran in2 truble Alx hurt 3 bad guys dwn Ambr & Li chsing no. 4 will upd8 mre ASAP- P.

"Bad news Hex." She breathed, passing the phone to him, while reading and rereading the words 'Alx hurt' in her mind with her gut turning cold each time.

Hex's emerald eyes sparked with determination as he looked up from the text.

"I'm sure he is fine Camilla. It sounds like they are busy chasing up a lead, now I think we should do the same so we have something useful for them by the time they get back."

With that he returned to his tapping and typing, leaving the girl to her thoughts.

"What can I do to help then?" she finally asked, managing to keep her voice steady.

Hex looked up momentarily to startle her with a cool wink.

"I wouldn't mind another cup of tea."

* * *

><p>Having sent an update through to Hex and Camilla like Alex insisted, Paulo returned his attention to his patient.<p>

The teen was looking even more pale then usual and his wounded arm was still held firmly above his head wrapped bulkily in bandages. Paulo had hustled Alex into the darkened van as he applied direct pressure to the bleeding site and ripped a first aid kit out from under one of the front seats. Fearing at the time that he might have needed a tourniquet, Paulo was relieved to find the bleeding could be managed by elevation and direct pressure until a firm bandage could be applied.

Considering the strength of the blood flow, they considered the bleed to be arteriole in nature and he had wadded up pads of gauze to better staunch the site of puncture. With another layer of gauze over top and finally a roll of crepe bandage, the bleeding was ceased and the wound cleanly dressed.

With the bleeding immediately controlled, Paulo moved to assess Alex for signs of poor perfusion or shock.

His body had quickly triggered vasoconstriction or the narrowing of blood vessels to help reduce bleeding from his extremities and to restrict blood flow away from the vital organs, where it was required. The outward manifestation of this was Alex's pale complexion, cold skin and feeling of heaviness in his limbs, all of which were caused by a reduced blood supply to his skin and muscles.

Upon feeling for a radial pulse Paulo noticed it was rapid and felt fairly weak, since he had been sitting for the last ten minutes while he was being bandaged, Paulo could only assume that this was caused by something other then exercise. Alex's body was compensating for loss of blood by increasing his heart rate and respiration rate to enhance the delivery of oxygenated blood to his organs.

A shiver wracked Alex as he sat in the sparse interior of their commandeered van. Paulo got out of the back and helped Alex to the passenger seat, he had done everything he could to stabilise his patient but now they needed to get out of there and catch up with the girls.

As he walked around the front of the cab, Paulo suddenly noticed one of the four kidnappers trying to get to his feet.

Acting on instinct, he quietly snuck up behind the wounded man who had experienced the misfortune of encountering Li and plunged the stun gun from his pocket into the centre of the guy's neck. The crouched man collapsed on his face in electricity-induced seizures before passing out. _I officially love this thing he decided _smiling at the device in his hand_. _

His smile died as he rationalised his recent action. _We can't have anyone warning their friends we're coming_ he decided bitterly pocketing the device once more and looking around one final time at Alpha Force's fallen opponents.

A dead man lay in the shadows in a crimson pool of blood, Paulo's battle had left a second tasered man slumped against a pillar, his chin resting on his chest and drawing shallow breaths. The most recently disabled man lay facedown once more, making a bubbling noise as he drew air through broken teeth and down a bloody airway.

Paulo also spotted Alex's knife lying abandoned by a small puddle of blood, he quickly pocketed the treasured possession to return to its owner.

A wave of disgust flowed through Paulo at the sight of humans so broken and abandoned but he climbed into the drivers seat all the same and turned the key.

* * *

><p>Amber's lungs burnt in desperation as she willed more speed from her aching legs to pursue the escaping villain. The skinny labourer had a lead of a good 50 metres and they had been running for a couple of blocks, the pounding of shoes on pavement broke the still night.<p>

She had forgotten how exhausting fighting was and it felt like her body would give out on her at any second. _Damn we can't have been fighting for more then a couple of minutes total but I'm stuffed! _She thought bitterly.

Huffing and puffing in exertion the athletic girl tried to settle into her usual running rhythm as she gave chase in fury. Amber understood the body's use of energy during exercise and knew that she was struggling at the moment because her body was still in oxygen debt and working in an anaerobic metabolic state. Adding on top of that was injuries she sustained in their recent struggles that throbbed and ached as she ran.

She pushed through the pain knowing that the prolonged activity would eventually cause her body to switch to aerobic energy production, which would make her long distance run easier. The oxygen would also help break down lactic acid; a by-product of anaerobic energy use that made her muscles feel so sore and tired.

Having become quite focussed on her own athletic effort, Amber was shocked to look up and suddenly realise she had lost sight of her target. With a fresh burst of energy she surged around the next corner and was disappointed to see that he was still nowhere in sight. She stopped in confusion looking ahead as far as her vision would stretch and trying to spot anywhere Miguel could be hiding.

The sound of urgent footfalls behind Amber triggered her to spin on the spot preparing to break the traitors nose all over again. Instead of a slimy Mexican, it was a short Asian girl who burst around the corner and seemed as surprised as she was.

"Where…Is….He?" Li asked between gasps as she held her hands on her hips, breathing hard.

Amber preferred to hold her hands behind her head as she huffed out an answer in defeat.

"Dunno….Lost.. Him."

Li cupped her friend's shoulder supportively, before taking up her arm with a look of shock.

"Your.. Arm?" She puffed in concern holding Ambers left forearm up for her to see.

In the light of streetlamps she could now see that her arm was completely soaked with blood and steadily dripping more onto the cold pavement. Looking past the blood, Amber finally started to feel the throb in her arm and recognised a long slice in the muscle of her forearm. Feeling a little bit sick from the sight of her own split skin and muscle, she realised it must have happened while she was wrestling for the knife.

"Damn, not a bad little cut is it?" Amber commented, trying to sound blasé and having finally caught her breath. Both girls squeezed a hand around the bloody wrist to quell the bleeding as they thought about their predicament.

The blaring of a horn interrupted their thoughts and they turned to see a familiar darkened van slowing to a stop behind them. Paulo leaned out the window and waved to the two teenage girls.

"You girls want a ride in my van?" He asked with a cocky grin.

The girls laughed at his audacity at taking the van and walked around to the sliding door. "Only if you have candy mister." Amber joked sliding the door on its rail, letting Li jump in first before climbing in too. In the front Paulo and Alex laughed as they pulled off the curb and a pale Alex turned to weakly lob an opened packet of sweets to the girls in the back.

"We lost him sorry guys." Amber admitted in defeat, unable to meet Paulo's reflected eyes in the mirror as she gratefully ate some lollies.

"That's okay." Paulo answered easily, "We got a text from Camilla and Hex, it sounds like they have found something big and we might be able to track this guy Miguel with their help too."

Hope grew in Amber's chest as she realised the trail was still alive, "Quickly then back to the mansion." She ordered.

"Hold up" Alex stopped her weakly, "We better swing back and grab the BMW first, we don't want to leave it where it is."

Amber cursed herself for overlooking the obvious detail in her haste and nodded in ascent.


	9. Chapter 9

It took about fifteen minutes to get the other car and drive them both back to the mansion.

As they pulled into the grounds they saw Camilla and Hex standing on the steps waiting for them. "What the hell happened?" Was the first thing out of Hex's mouth as his friends debussed. Camilla watched in obvious distress as Alex slowly climbed from the passenger seat with his bandaged arm in a sling. In one concerned sweep Hex took in his friends appearances. One of Paulo's eyes had began to puff up and was going an ugly purple colour, Amber's injury also did not go unnoticed by the by the young hacker. It seemed to him that the only person who looked unscathed was Li.

"Lets get inside and cleaned up, then I'll fill you in on what we've found." Camilla suggested, taking up one of Alex's sides and helping him up the steps.

Taking various seats in the lounge Camilla and Hex stood proudly in front of their whiteboard that was now covered with photos and writing in a tidy curved font. Cups of tea and coffee now adorned the short table as the group settled in to hear what had been found out. Alex removed his blood stained charcoal shirt as Paulo began undoing the bandage around his arm.

Hex started his talk as the two teens carefully undressed the wound.

Pointing to the words on the board he narrated. "All that we have found points to this group Taken Inc. as the party responsible for taking John Middleton." He eyed Amber gauging her reaction as he carried on.

"After doing a bit of digging we found out a few things. Firstly this group is operated almost entirely by one of the biggest mafias based here in New York. Secondly the head of this mafia and the man who is rumoured to personally involve himself in each kidnapping is this man."

He pointed again, this time to a photo of a sullen looking stout man

Amber scowled at the ugly man on the whiteboard and Camilla took over to explain his background "His name is Dimitri Ivanovich and he is head of the Ivanovich crime syndicate here in New York. Wanted in connection with countless kidnapping and murder, rumour is he likes to interrogate and send the ransom messages himself."

The blonde froze in mid presentation at an almost inaudible gasp of pain from Alex as the last of the bandages came away slowly.

Alex was sweating with the agony of holding his arm outstretched for Paulo to examine. With held breath Camilla stared at the wound willing it not to bleed as pressure was taken off it. Alex's shoulders slumped in relief as the small bloody slit in his arm remained still without compression and the only blood appeared to be old. The blonde standing at the front finally breathed in relief too and had to combat the urge to hug her boy who looked so pale and weak.

"Knife can't have been that sharp for it to have stopped already." Paulo whispered to Alex as he opened the sterile packaging on some fresh bandages.

Explaining further he went on in a hushed whisper the two unaware that they were now the centre of attention.

"Arteries are funny like that, a very sharp cut like an incision doesn't cause such a strong spasm of the vessels smooth muscle to close the cut." Alex could merely nod weakly and wince as pressure was reapplied to his arm with gauze and bandage.

Camilla seemed to break from her spell and notice the others eyes upon her, clearing her throat loudly she carried on ignoring their amused looks. "Hex did a bit more digging and looked into the man's finances, which turned up some interesting results."

Hex retook the floor as he explained what he had found. "With a little investigation I found that I could track his transactions and it turns out Mr. Ivanovich owns a shell company that is paid for by previous ransoms. This shell company is involved heavily in shipping and storage around the docks."

He nodded back to Camilla who had the next piece of information. "The company owns one registered property a set of warehouses down at the docks that are supposably rented out for freight storage. After a bit more research we discovered that there are no account records at all for clients of these warehouses." She finished with raised eyebrows.

"Very suspicious" Li commented understanding what was implied.

Hex sighed, "I hate to say it but it is the best bet we have at the moment to find something out there and find where they are keeping your uncle." He admitted, looking frankly at Amber.

Amber nodded "I'm still pissed that we lost Miguel."

"Where could he have gone?" Li pondered.

"Where would you go if you thought you were being pursued and had to leave town?" Alex asked, finally speaking up and nursing a water bottle that Paulo had forced into his hands.

Li responded automatically "Honestly? I would probably want to swing by home first and grab a few things."

"Like a bug-out kit or something right?" Camilla agreed, suddenly looking more excited as they developed the idea.

"Maybe not a bad idea to check out his place and see if we can still catch him?" Alex put out there.

Amber nodded her head with a mean smile "I wouldn't mind having a word with that little weasel."

Hex's fingers were already staggering across the keys as she spoke and he looked up as Amber finished, turning his computer so she could see. "That's his address." He declared.

"Ok two leads, we split up to check them out?" Paulo suggested.

"I'm chasing the Rat." Amber instantly demanded, a vote that was seconded by Li beside her.

"No way I'm sitting this out either." Camilla declared stubbornly with a challenging look at Alex.

"I don't mind checking out the warehouses." Paulo suggested with a shrug, "Wouldn't mind some company though." He looked at Hex.

Hex had other ideas however; "I wanted to get my hands on the guy who sold out John actually." He admitted, torn between helping Paulo and keeping an eye on Amber.

Alex settled the issue for him.

"There is some pretty hi-tech surveillance equipment in the van that probably only you can use Hex. Do you mind taking the van with Paulo and checking out the warehouse? I can go in you place to Miguel's flat if you want?"

Hex fumed internally but nodded all the same, lately it felt like he was kept back from the action and that meant being separated from Amber. Neither he was particularly happy about.

Paulo looked happier for his company anyway and the two young men clutched up their gear and headed for the door.

"You guys be careful." Hex warned with a pointed look at Amber before he followed Paulo to the tinted van.

* * *

><p>"So the rest of us go to have a chat with your gardener then?" Alex asked carefully pulling on a shirt much to his girls regret. He gently shrugged his arm into a sling that Paulo had already tied for him and popped a couple of Ibuprofen with water.<p>

Alex ignored the worried looks he received from his friends as he prepared to head out to the car with them. Camilla stopped him in his tracks with a steely glance.

"There's no way you are coming in to find this guy with us Buster." She declared. Alex tried to play nonchalant and confused.

"Why not?" He demanded, "I'm fine my arm isn't even bleeding anymore."

The girls eyed his appearance, sure his colour had improved a little bit since they had returned but he had lost a bit of blood at the time.

"It could start again at any time though, come on Alex it wasn't a paper-cut, you were bloody stabbed." The blonde insisted, with the other two girls nodding their agreement.

Alex was starting to get a bit brassed off, he was fine to go with them and he felt responsible since he reassigned Hex from doing so.

"Fine." He sullenly said before snatching another sling from the first aid kit and looped it around his injured arm above the injury site. He crossed the ends tightly once and then oddly enough reached for a bread knife from the set table beside him. Alex carefully balanced the knife on top of the knot leaving the blunt blade and the handle hovering in the air. With a final deft movement of his good hand he tied another knot locking the steel knife securely in place on top of the white bandage.

"There" he announced triumphantly, "If It starts bleeding again I just twist the handle creating a tourniquet and securing it like that until it stops."

The girls didn't at all seem convinced by his confident assurances and reluctantly they allowed him to follow them to the BMW. Li drove as Amber locked in the coordinates for their destination in the GPS unit suckered to the windscreen.

* * *

><p>Hex gazed in awe at the array of complicated surveillance equipment that lined the wall of the van and contents he had removed from the side lockers. "This is amazing!" He declared over the road noise to Paulo who was driving in the front.<p>

"There is tens of thousands of pounds worth of equipment back here."

He held a pair of infrared goggles up to his eyes and tested them out. "Top of the range stuff too." He added excitedly.

Paulo sighed to himself as his friend geeked it up in the back slobbering over the vast stores of technology they had came into possession of. Flicking his eyes across to the palmtop that lay forgotten on the passenger seat, he checked he was on the right course and merged across into the correct exit lane.

"Amazing." He heard Hex exclaim from the back. _I almost forgot how much that guy like his gadgets, _Paulo thought to himself sarcastically.

Reluctantly the hacker climbed through the gap in the front seats to take the passenger side once more, his eyes were still bright from his latest discoveries.

"Damn we got everything back there Paulo; audio, visual, mics, cameras, all manner of scopes and even a few weapons too." He chattered.

Paulo rolled his eyes in affection and didn't look up from the road; "You know Amber is going to be hellishly pissed if she finds any of those cameras in her shower?" He ribbed lightly.

Despite the fact it was just the two of them in the vehicle, Hex's face froze in shock at the comment and glared at the driver.

"I'm kidding _amigo_." Paulo surrendered at the withering stare he was receiving.

Hex shook his head unamused but conceded the scowl.

"How are things between you two anyway?" Paulo blurted out.

Expecting to be shot down again he was surprised when his friend sighed heavily in the seat beside him.

"Damn it mate, some days I just don't know." Hex admitted wearily. "I want to say something to her about how I feel but I always seem to freeze up and nothing comes out. Sometimes I just feel like maybe we are too different, people from two completely different worlds."

Paulo took his hand off the gear stick to clap his _amigo_ on the shoulder and console him with a lowered voice.

"You are quite different people that is true but aren't opposites supposed to attract? Besides you both agree on the important issues and are united in trying to help others."

Hex nodded, still not entirely convinced, "How did you and Li pull it off?" He asked the South American.

Paulo turned to meet his eyes with a serious look.

"We didn't and that's the truth of it. While we care for each other very much it is nothing more then that, we decided long ago that we were perfectly happy just as friends. More brother and sister." He ammended before his cocky trademarked grin rolled across his easy features and he winked at Hex. "Besides _hombre _it leaves me free for all the other _senoritas."_

Hex laughed at his outrageous driver and smiled, the ability of the extraverted teen to cheer him up was never underrated.

"Camilla tried giving me the third degree about Alex before." Hex revealed, becoming more comfortable in their subject matter as it moved further from him and Amber.

"Oh yeah?" Paulo raised an eyebrow in interest as he indicated and turned left down a side street, the sight and sounds of the sea becoming clearer.

"Yeah I got the feeling things have been a bit rocky in their camp, Alex has been acting weird apparently."

Paulo chuckled "To be fair, Alex has always been a little weird right?"

The hacker laughed too, _I don't think any of us are exactly what you would call normal _he thought.

"It's Alex," Paulo explained with a shrug, "He will have some sort of silly responsible reason for ignoring such a beautiful _Chica._"

"Yea probably," Hex agreed, "I dunno, I know she's his girlfriend and everything but it all feels a bit weird having someone else know about Alpha Force and tag along helping us out."

Paulo considered this and thought back to Africa and remembered the girl walking right along with them even with her injured knee, fleeing a town under siege beside him and firing an assault rifle like a pro at an advancing enemy force.

He shrugged again, "She's a tough chick I'll give her that but yeah I think she distracts Alex a bit much."

Hex nodded his agreement before sitting upright in his chair, "Pull over here mate." He instructed.

Paulo complied and smoothly slid the van to a halt outside a chain link fence that surrounded a smattering of warehouses on the edge of the docks.

* * *

><p>Given the late hour there was very little activity out on the street and Paulo was able to pull the van into a nearby alleyway without any witnesses.<p>

"Now what?" he asked climbing into the back where the young hacker was already going through equipment again.

"We sneak on over and see what we can hear and see I guess." Hex replied holding up what looked like a pistol with a small dish around the base of where the barrel would run. He hefted a headset around his neck before he answered his friends questioning looks.

"This is a direction microphone," He explained "It greatly amplifies sound waves and makes it possible to eavesdrop on conversations even through walls."

"Cool." Paulo commented as he tightened the strap on a pair of night vision goggles that now sat on his head. "I've still got this stun gun, what have you got in the way of a weapon?"

The London teen gestured to a separate pile into which he had sorted weapons. It contained several small cylindrical canisters, a small can of high-powered pepper spray, two short silver rods with blackened handgrips that were unnaturally heavy and a long black riot baton in the same style as those that the police carried.

"I think those are grenades of some kind, Alex might know I don't really want to play with them." Hex decided sorting through his options.

"Pepperspray? Meh. I might have to go with the baton."

He lifted the heavy black stick from where it lay and was pleased by how it felt in his grip. The baton was a bit over a foot long with a second handle protruding from it about a third of the way down, it was made out of some kind of sturdy black material that gave it considerable weight and strength.

Armed and equipped the two teens slid out the sidedoor and into the quiet night.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N- **Another chapter because you have all been good, a special shout out to Emma and the promise of more action to follow.

- **Grey.**

* * *

><p>Hex and Paulo slunk through the long shadows surrounding the warehouses as if it were in perfect daylight to them. In truth it was as good as daytime for them with the high spec. night vision goggles they wore. The world was now a radioactive green colour through the specialised lenses that refracted and magnified the light. The gloomy building by the water had quickly become a friendlier looking place when they could see like owls.<p>

Quite quickly they noticed the burly men who wandered the perimeter at seemingly random intervals. As Hex spotted the first man he silently signalled a halt to Paulo behind him and held his hand in a distinct thumbs down gesture indicating possible enemy.

The two padded silently further into the shadows watching and waiting as the man passed their position. A large man in a nondescript suit jacket patrolled by slowly, his hand resting easily on the weapon holstered to his flank. It was almost too easy stalking around in the dark when the people keeping an eye out for you were as good as blind.

Having gotten close enough to try utilising some of the surveillance gear Paulo sat on watch as Hex lifted the green lenses off his face to concentrate on preparing his first piece of equipment.

It was a thermal imaging scope similar to the one they had used on that fateful day in Belize, except this one was a lot more high powered and accurate. His vision switched colour to an eerie purplish as heat signature now denoted spectrum. The buildings and inanimate objects how showed in a dull blue or green depending on the surface and its radiation of heat.

What really stood out in the scope was warm objects, looking over his shoulder Hex could actually identify where the major blood vessels ran under Paulo's skin by the greater areas of warmth. Other warmer areas like the face, armpits and groin also glowed a fiercer red in contrast to the rest of the orange blob that represented his friend.

Turning his attention back to scanning he took note of the blobs of heat in his vision. Buildings and walls were somewhat translucent in this mode of vision and Hex was able to see the warm outline of a generator vibrating away a couple of sheds over. He could see the two men who wandered the perimeter of the warehouse, unaware of the invisible pair that crouched in the shadows.A surprising amount of small yellow dots were scattered generously across the warehouse complex, he finally realised they were rats when he witnessed one move not ten metres from him.

Apart from the rats and patrolling men there was not very much activity being picked up by the thermals. In a far warehouse he did note several faint signatures, barely strong enough for the scope to pick up. Intrigued, Hex focused on that building and realised that the faint signatures were humans as one began to move.

_We might have something here_, he considered as he crept across to Paulo and tapped the alert teen on the shoulder.

Keeping the thermal imaging scope over his eye, Hex lead the pair from cover and over towards the building he had got readings from. As they darted along like ninjas the pictures became clearer and he was able to identify three heat sources in the shed, one of which seemed smaller then the rest.

Paulo and Hex stopped outside the target building to ponder their next move.

Hex looked at his friend before tapping his ears and pointing his hand like a gun at the building. Paulo immediately clicked to his intention and carefully retrieved the directional microphone from his small backpack. Hex had split the headphone so they had an ear each to listen through and comfortable that they would not be disturbed, the two took a knee to listen to the building.

The teen from London pointed the gun like antenna directly at the wall and muffled noise started to trickle through their earpieces. It took a few minutes to make sense of what was being said and the quality of audio was made better when Hex was able to point the mic at the speaker, using the thermal vision to find them.

Through the snatches of muffled conversation that began to filter through the two teens realised that they may have just hit the jackpot.

"…We better take good care of him….. bastard is worth a whole lot of money…. Boss was here earlier… heard him ask for 20 mil from this guys niece..."

Hex and Paulo shared a triumphant fist bump before resuming their listening.

"…Easy… any word from … others yet?" another patchy voice enquired.

"…othing apparently our inside man … made contact about fifteen m… ago…. Boss taken some… gone to pick him up….." The first voice came back.

_That might be to do with Miguel, _Paulo thought with growing concern as he clutched the earpiece hard to his ear. Multitasking, Hex tapped a text together on his phone letting the others know what they had found at the same time he listened to the dull conversation between the two guards. One final broken sentence jumped out at the two friends;

"…move again tonight…"

Paulo scanned the area thoroughly before hazarding a whisper to Hex. "Did you hear that they are moving him again tonight, we've got to do something."

The hacker focused the scope at the third smaller heat signature that was by itself about ten metres from the two men they had eavesdropped on. The shape was blurry and seemed shorter corresponding with the image that would be expected of a man seated in a chair. Pixels representing the head inclined slightly as the seated mans head slumped forward and provided Hex with all the evidence needed that they had found John and he was still alive.

Hex tipped his brow in agreement and leaned in close to hiss back his suggestion, "We take out the two guys on patrol, bring the van in quietly then create a distraction and get John out. Unless you've got a better plan?"

Paulo shook his head and smiled "I'll take one guy you get the other okay?"

Hex answered by replacing his NVGs and drawing the baton from where he had tucked it into his belt.

* * *

><p>It had been an awkward car ride to the traitorous gardeners flat but the girls and Alex had finally arrived. Stepping out into the night air from the drivers seat, Li gazed up at the darkened apartment building that towered in front of them.<p>

A convincing lie from Amber got the friends past the doorman and they soon stood in silence in the lobby waiting for the elevator to arrive.

Alex stretched his arm slowly in the sling. Earning him a dirty look from Camilla and causing him to promptly stop.

_Walking on eggshells much? _Li thought to herself as the uncomfortable silence stretched, _god I hope someone says something soon._

It was Amber who broke the silence.

"By the way Li, you totally Hexed it on those guys at the van earlier." She commented lightly.

"How did you..?" Camilla started quite confused before Amber cut her off.

"Paulo told me about it, he seemed to think it was a bit of a thing now." Amber explained with an amused smile.

"Oh it's a thing alright." Alex confirmed with a triumphant grin, he was stoked that it had caught on and became a running joke now.

It also served to break up the tension between him and the others just before they got in the elevator.

Li pressed the button for the fifth floor and the familiar weight of gravity pressed down through their spines as the elevator began to ascend. Amber watched the numbers quietly tick up as mellow elevator music tinkled through the tiny speakers overhead. The elevator finally found the fifth floor and slowed to a stop causing stomachs to lurch up in a moment of weightlessness before settling.

Four teens departed the elevator to carefully peer up and down the corridor looking for the room number they were after.

"5 G." Amber declared standing in front of the worn brown door that was framed by peeling tan coloured wallpaper. She held a hand up to knock before stopping herself realising what a silly idea that would have been. Amber turned to face Alex, seeing what he had in mind instead.

Silently he took his slim phone from his dark pants and slid the device under the door, he held it there for a moment before withdrawing it. The group crowded around the screen and saw in the tiny display a single familiar figure hunched over a bag on the table, seemingly preoccupied. Their eyes meet in the middle confirming they had all seen the same thing. Alex opened the text function and typed a short message before holding it up for the others to see.

Li kck in da door go first then Me Cam thn Ambr Li get 2 hm we will split off & search flat No Qs? Stack on da door we go on my 3

Three heads nodded in agreement and pressed themselves to the walls on the same side as the door. Alex and Li faced each other at the door with Camilla and Amber lined up one behind each. Alex tightened his sling and silently held up three fingers meeting Li's determined gaze. The fingers dropped slowly each with a seconds pause before there were none left and Alex nodded to Li.

Standing almost a metre from the door front on, Li chambered a powerful front kick before unleashing it with tremendous power and accuracy. Just as they had practiced in the past during urban training, Li landed her kick just below the door handle as close to the locking mechanism as she could. She focused on transmitting all her weight and force directly through the bottom of her foot as it made contact with the hard wood.

How could the door stand a chance?

With a splintering crunch the door burst open upon impact and four teens charged into the room.

Miguel whipped around in surprise as his flat was assaulted. The Latino's eyes bugged out at the sight of the seriously pissed off Asian girl who bolted towards him. The man didn't even have time to yell out before Li had closed the distance between them and attacked.

With a blunt palm she shoved her left hand through the natural position of his head, pulverising his already ruined nose and causing his neck to arch back in recoil. With her opponent off balance she unwound her hips and deliver an open handed blow with the edge of her right hand. This slightly cupped knife-hand came down with tremendous force on Miguel's collarbone, shattering the fragile support structure of the shoulder.

A high scream, saturated with pain escaped his lips, as bone was broken and displaced by skill and speed.

Li finished by wrapping the delivering hand around the fractured bone and, ignoring the strengthened cries of pain, shoving back on a downwards angle towards her enemies feet. The cries changed in pitch to a sound more akin to mortally wounded animal, as the ex-gardener crumpled back past his own centre of gravity. Tumbling backwards the flailing man overturned the table behind him and his belongings went flying as he finally crashed to a halt.

"X-ray down." Li shouted to her friends, utilising the codes they had memorised during urban training to alert the team that she dispatched an opponent.

Voices parroted her call before responding with their own calls.

"Left room clear,"

"Right room clear,"

"Centre room clear," The last being Camilla, having no such prior training decided to copy the format the other two had used as they declared their rooms empty.

The three friends on clearance quickly ran back to assemble where Li was standing, in the room with the door they had breached to enter. Miguel had managed to roll over on his stomach during that time and he was slowly crawling from behind the overturned table. His face was killing him; the Oriental girl had hit him in his broken nose and his right shoulder felt like it was filled with glass any time he moved it.

His eyes burned with rage and indignity as he painfully crawled to a kneeling and looked up at the group that had invaded his flat.

"Hey Miguel, long time no see, I think it's time we had a chat." Amber drawled, her tone dripping with malice.

"I got nothing to say to you bitch," He spat, furious that he had been bested by this brat for the second time in one night.

"You seemed a lot more talkative earlier Miguel, before Amber broke your nose." Li noted tauntingly as she scuffed away some of his belongings that had landed near her feet.

A sly grin broke the villains face, "Yea well talk as long as you want, I ain't saying a thing and soon my ride will be here."

"We'll make this quick then and take you with us." Alex threatened, his hand resting on the knife slung on his belt.

Miguel's sinister smile spread a little further at the boy's bravado and he decided to play his trump card.

"Why don't we stay and chat here instead?" He mocked, whipping a large silver pistol from where it had been tucked into his jeans at the small of his back.

The barrel danced across the chests of the four friends triggering a bounding of pulse in each teen as it traced a path over their body.

Without being instructed all four of them raised their hands in the air, exposing empty palms to the furious man with the gun.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N-** Another chapter and a shout out to all my lovely readers.

**-Grey.**

* * *

><p>Li gulped as a cold wave descended upon her body as she watched the weapon trained on her and her friends. She suddenly regretted the brutal takedown she had employed earlier and mentally kicked herself for not searching her fallen opponent.<p>

She could see things going very badly now and if anyone was going to cop it first it was going to be her.

For a moment she berated herself for getting carried away in taking him down, she had enjoyed the damage she dealt to the man in vengeance of Amber's uncle. _You lost control girl, you lost your peace _she scolded internally. _You got caught up in the moment and didn't follow through. _In her haste today she had failed to observe correct prisoner restraint and search procedure, it was all her fault they were in this jam.

_It is so much different in the dojo_ she reasoned, _emotion and motive don't come into play and all you do is fight through action and reaction in whatever way your instincts at the time decide._

Li also knew that in the dojo, conditions were often a lot more controlled and no real damage dealt to her partners in practice.

Out in the real world it seemed a whole different game though where she seemed faster then the average opponent and accordingly, dished out brutal violence with little regard to consequence. Her mind carried her back to Egypt and she remembered in disgust, throwing a man to his death from a hotel balcony. With her skills and experience it was too easy to get carried away in the adrenaline laced excitement of it all and deal enough damage to permanently disable or even kill her opponents.

Li inhaled peace deep into her chest and pushed aside her thoughts, finding the secret balance and poise that gave warriors and athletes their focus.

Silently she promised herself to try and be more restrained in the future if they lived through this ordeal.

* * *

><p>Alex eyed the weapon keenly before slowly sliding his body in front of Camilla's.<p>

It was a Beretta; an older but very reliable semiautomatic handgun that was made in Italy, its calibre varied dependant on the model and it was an easy weapon to acquire in a country like America. _Damn loose gun laws_ he cursed bitterly, _every bloody gangbanger and his pose are strapped around here._

Regardless of the weapons background or calibre Alex was sure it would easily make large messy holes in him and his friends if they didn't comply with holders wishes.

Their plan had been completely blown out of the water by the arrival of a firearm into the equation; _it was just like the fiasco earlier with the knife earlier_ he thought in vain. Locked in a cage of concern and frustration, Alex was forced to stand and watch as he and his friend's lives were threatened once more.

Camilla couldn't say a thing as she noticed Alex slyly slip in front of her, putting his body between the gun and her.

It was a noble and heroic gesture that brought to the surface certain highly inappropriate timed urges in the girl. As heroic a move as it was, she realised it would also be in vain if things kicked off and the guy decided he wanted to start shooting.

Her head rebelled at the thought of his willingness to sacrifice himself for her and she came to the resolution that they must both survive. Camilla carefully assessed her surroundings out of the corner of her eye as she awaited their fate and pushed down stubborn imperilled thoughts.

* * *

><p>Amber could not bear the thought of any of her friends getting shot so she did what she did best and started to talk. With her tone a lot softer then before and in a more pleading manner she took small steps forward as she appealed to the gunman's humanity.<p>

"I know this isn't you Miguel, holding some kids at gunpoint. You were always a friendly, happy employee, when did things change? What happened? We might have both acted quite rash recently but put the gun down and we can talk about it." She asked of the man, in a voice like she was attempting to calm a spooked horse.

Hesitation hung in the man's eyes before being washed away by the hard conviction of greed and cruelty.

"It's a bit late for that I think my dear," He sneered, gesturing towards the door with his weapon. "Now you can all just stand there and shut the hell up until my friends arrive to take you away. If you behave then maybe I will even let your friends live."

The realisation that their lives were worthless to this man, except as leverage over Amber, fell heavily on her friends.

Alex reached over with his good hand to meet one of Camilla's and deliver a firm squeeze; she returned the pressure as the unspoken words passed between their flesh. The small gesture brought a tear to her eye, in doing so she hardened her heart and drew her courage enough to make a decision.

Amber stepped forward one last step and opened her mouth to try and talk again when she was struck violently across the face.

Miguel drew his gun hand back from the pistol-whip he had just delivered and prepared to deliver another one to the bothersome girl, as she stumbled sideways clutching her head.

At that moment two things happened in the space of an instant.

Camilla's spare hand wrapped behind a vase on the shelf beside her and slung the heavy ceramic piece at the gunman.

The second thing was the gunman's finger closed around the trigger.

* * *

><p>The high pitched shattering off the propelled ornament was drowned out by the monstrous rapport of the large pistol as gunpowder was ignited, propelling a 9mm slug at deadly speed from the short barrel.<p>

The hollow pointed lead round escaped the tunnel in front of a gassy explosion that seemed to occur noiselessly, with sound too slow arrive in time. A bang that left tinnitus in its echo and a visible distortion in the air finally seemed to catch up with it's deadly projectile. Death smelted into corporeal form spiralled a path through the drab apartment, its momentum and rotation displacing the very space around it.

In what felt like slow motion, Li watched as the grey wad slid past her, robbing her of oxygen with its slipstream. The proximity was such that she could have sworn she felt the heat as the round brushed past her. Ripples of the translucent air seemed to track the bullets progress as it narrowly missed the girl.

Its heavy leaden form was finally halted in its acceleration by the far wall of the apartment where it burrowed deep, dispersing its deadly potential energy through the flat structure.

Life seemed to rush back into her lungs with the air and her body instinctively burst into motion, diving sideways out of the line of further fire.

* * *

><p>Action is always faster then reaction as both Alex and Miguel discovered in an instant.<p>

Miguel found himself working off the back foot as his finger closed around the cold metal trigger in response to one of the teens in front of him moving. In what must have been mere fractions of a second earlier a shattering impact smashed into his head. The sudden blow caused his whole body to lurch and the shot to go wide of its mark.

As he tried to regather his senses and aim the gun for another shot, his arm was suddenly weighed down by Amber's hands closing around the cold steel.

As the vase was hurtled forward by Camilla's spare hand, her other was drawing with all her strength and pulling Alex towards her.

Alex was yanked off balance sideways, as his body descended horizontally in front of the blond. The trajectory of the deadly projectile harmlessly passed the unoccupied space that separated Li and Alex as the boy was moved. In what was a split second later Camilla was diving the same direction dragging him further that way and rolling her body over top his protectively as they fell.

Their shuddering impact with the ground and the over stimulation of senses temporarily stunned the couple.

A second concussion exploded from the short weapon, which was being wrestled over by two very different sets of hands. A third round discharged into the ground at the struggling pairs feet with the force of death before whining off on a ricocheted tangent. The barrel dropped further between the two bodies and for an instant Amber's body was in line with the deadly end of the semiautomatic.

The girl was not staying there though and as she pivoted her body out of the line of fire she managed to grasp both hands firmly on the barrel and twist it violently sideways. Miguel's finger was trapped in the trigger guard and snapped like a dried twig as it was levered around the fulcrum of unrelenting metal.

His eyes popped out further in pain, a destitute groan escaping his lips as he released the weapon and instead brought his free hand across to slug Amber across the jaw. It took two more hard punches before Amber realised she had won the gun and withdrew from the barrage by dropping to the ground.

Miguel paused his fist in mid-air assessing the scene in front of him. He was now unarmed and up against three fit young adults, of which the asian one was obviously an experienced fighter and a master of pain.

_Oh shit she's getting back up! _He realised in terror as Li began to recover from her dive to safety.

Thinking quickly, the traitor cut his losses and leapt out the window behind him to disappear down the fire escape.

* * *

><p>Li just caught a glimpse of the man as he disappeared out the window and she hurtled towards the escape route. Her immediate thoughts of pursuit were halted by the fragile looking form of her friend crumpled on the ground, her hands clutched to her chest as if she held the most treasured object on earth.<p>

In grave concern Li shook Amber and called to her. "Amber are you okay?"

It took a moment before her friend recognised her voice and looked up groggily,

"Yea I just need a minute, don't let him get away again." She grumbled, her speech distorted by the tongue and lips that were beginning to engorge from injury.

Li nodded resolutely remembering their fleeing floe and leapt over Amber's sprawled legs to vault out the window.

A few metres away a young couple lay on the floor pressed tightly together.

Alex raked his hands down the girl's figure in panic, fearing the worst and almost passing out in relief as he found his fingers unburdened by blood or bullet holes. He felt as though his hands had almost forgot the beauty of her familiar shape and they shook with the saturation of sensation.

The sweet smelling hair pressed tight up beside his face lifted and a pale face came into view, killing his voice with her blue eyes. A shudder of relief passed between the two and they pressed back together, this time in appreciation of what was almost lost.

Alex broke the embrace reluctantly so the pair could help each other up and reassess the situation.

"Li's chasing him down, go help her." Amber explained and ordered at the same time, her face hidden behind curtains of dark hair.

The couple hesitated at the open window to the shadowed streets below until the girl yelled at them.

"Damn it! Go and find him you idiots! I'll catch up in a minute okay?" Amber bellowed.

The young couple shared one last uncertain look before sliding out onto the fire escape to help Li.

* * *

><p>"Boy do I have a headache." Amber complained to noone after a couple minutes alone in which she finally found her feet.<p>

The acrid, peppery smell of gunpowder thickly hung in the air slowly invading her hair and clothes.

Exhaustion, pain and an unfamiliar fogginess in her head burdened her progress and tugged at her to give up and rest on the spot. A sense of duty and commitment to her friends was the only pull that helped her find her feet.

Steadfast in a moment of self assessment, Amber slowly brought her hand to her face searching out the injuries she was all too aware of. Her fingers moistened from the light bleeding as she found the throbbing lump above her right eyebrow where she had been struck with the pistol.

She looked down and seemed to only just notice the ugly metal object polluting her other hand. Beyond caring she lightly tossed the deadly tool on the pile of debris that had once been a table.

The hand on her face continued its journey until it found the growing tight patch of skin on her jaw where a bruise was starting to form. Her teeth felt loose in her jaw and she suppressed a sob at the thought of how terrible she must look at the moment.

Distracted by her injuries and dwelling in her misery, Amber did not hear the ruined door open behind her.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N- **Wooooooooo Go the All Blacks! Smash the French! That is all ;)

**-Grey.**

* * *

><p>Moving suprisingly quiet for a big guy, Paulo stalked his prey around the back of one of the sheds. <p>

_I'm not going to find any better concealment then here _he concluded as he psyched himself up for the coming conflict. He cracked his neck and stretched his arms out as he waited for the man to walk closer to his position. _If only we always got a bit of a stretch before a rumble maybe we wouldn't all be so stiff afterwards, _he thought with a hint of a smile tracing his lips.

The anticipation was almost too much for the normally relaxed teen and he distinctly felt the hammering in his chest.

Sweat threatened to occlude his sight as it ran in beads down onto his forehead from his long hair. He suddenly felt too hot in his long sleeved black shirt, despite the bracing sea breeze that haunted the alley between buildings where he stood in wait for his prey. Faint footfalls grew louder and the thudding from the muscle in his chest seemed to consume all other noise.

The moment of truth was near.

Every muscle in Paulo's body felt coiled and ready for action as he teetered on the edge of exploding forward. Seconds seemed to slow before a large man in a leather duster stepped around the corner at a slow pace, his hands buried deep in the pockets of his coat.

Fighting the instinct to spring straight away, Paulo actually waited until the man had taken a half step past where he stood in near invisibility before he pounced. With a small step forward he pressed the cold metal tines into the side of the thugs neck and depressed the trigger. The shock was delivered in less then a second and Paulo even managed to catch the mans falling form as muscular spasms rendered standing, let alone consciousness, impossible.

He felt tense muscles firing spasmodically under the clothes as he eased the senseless body to the ground. Realising he was a little ahead of schedule he bound the unconscious mans hands with rope that slipped in his sweaty grip.

* * *

><p>On the other side of the yard Hex felt similar nerves bundling within as he waited to get the drop on his opponent.<p>

He knew what was at stake and remembered the distinctive bulge of a firearm under his targets jacket. The teen had chosen another darkened section of the men's route, deciding to use his superior optics to his advantage.

In the shadows he took a few practice swings with his baton, warming up his shoulders and preparing to deliver a world of hurt to the back of some guys head. 

_Wouldn't it be funny if these were actually just dockworkers we were taking out?_ He thought in a share moment of hilarious insanity concocted by his adrenaline-addled brain. _Dockworkers don't carry a concealed sidearm _he reminded himself as he tightened his grip on his instrument of unconsciousness and chambered it to his shoulder.

Drawing deep breaths to steady his shaking muscles, he closed his eyes and mentally rehearsed his planned ambush. Believing he had accounted for every variable after a second's analysis, he returned to his green-vision and waited. The first indication that his target grew near was the quiet whistled tune that carried in the breeze towards his position. The tune grew louder and individual notes began to become clearer as the man came closer. Rock music wailed in Hex's head as he staunched himself up for his attack.

Hex's opponent walked right past his position without even a second glance into the shadows that concealed the teenager.

Feeling like quite the badass, Hex stepped from his concealment and swung his stick in a cooing swoop. Leading into the shot with his elbow, he whipped the stick through the air fast enough to create an audible noise. It connected solidly with the back of his targets skull, exactly as he had intended, in a jarring strike that sent a tremor of shock back up his arm. The coup and contrecoup forces caused by the initial impact knocked the brain away from any semblance of consciousness.

The force of the hit alone was also sufficient to drive the rest of the body from its balance and force it to conform to gravity; unfortunately for the man, his first point of contact with the ground was the front of his displaced head.

Concrete face plant.

Hex winched as his foes facial features were mashed a little further back into his head by the secondary impact with the concrete.

"Ooooh he's going to feel that one in the morning." Hex quietly quipped to noone with a grimace as he wiped the blood off his baton on the unconscious man's jacket.

A second thought struck him as he did so and he reached inside the jacket to withdraw the sidearm. With a small look of disgust at the crude metal killing implement he lightly tossed the heavy weapon into the murky water. It sunk quickly, greedily consumed by the oily sea.

Keying the small radio from his pocket he whispered to Paulo "I'm done. Get our ride, I'll stay in front and make sure we are clear."

"Roger that." A Spanish lilted voice replied.

* * *

><p>Miguel was at another head start but hadn't counted on the difficulty he would have getting down the fire escape with a fractured clavicle and a dislocated finger. He also didn't realise that the fire escape was just one big climbing frame for the girl pursuing him.<p>

Li ignored the stairs completely and instead vaulted the horizontal handrails that ran their length; in this way she dropped from halfway down the stairs onto the next level. Her callused hands caught around the diagonal supports and the lithe girl swung her entire body over the safety rails. Muscles honed by years of bouldering and rope climbing tensed as she brought her legs swinging around and underneath her each time to meet the metal grill floors. She went with the impacts and turned each landing into a neat roll as the groundshock was dissipated by the force dispersion of each breakfall.

The concrete floor of the alley below rapidly approached as she cut floors in half, eating up the distance between her and the skinny man sprinting his way down the stairs. Dropping to the ground at the bottom Miguel looked up in a moment of panic as he noticed the violent girl from before was only a couple of floors above him and dropping in height with a vengeance. Remembering what she had done to him earlier the Latino drew his injured sides arm to his chest and ran for the open end of the alleyway.

Second's later, Li dropped down into the exact same spot and without a moments hesitation took off after him.

_Running after this guy again,_ Li thought as she sprinted across hard asphalt. _Difference is, this time he isn't going to get away, _she decided sternly, putting on a little extra speed at the thought. The fleeing man was only twenty metres in front of her and coming to the end of the alley, she was actually close enough to hear his laboured panting now. His breathing was noisy from pain and exertion, his destroyed nose compounding things by partially occluding his air entry and choking his throat with a steady trickle of blood.

The fear of the girl pursuing him was enough to push him through the pain and discomfort though, as he ran for what he considered was probably his life.

A rhythmic thumping behind them echoed in the confines of the space between buildings as Camilla and Alex made their way down the fire escape as quick as they could.

Camilla tried copying Li's method for getting down but switched back to simply using the stairs after her untidy landing earned her the full brunt that gravity had to offer. Alex, considering his wounded arm, wisely stuck to the stairs, skipping every first and second stair in an attempt to speed his descent.

The whole structure creaked and groaned delivering a shower of paint and rust as the two teens made the final drop out onto the ground between buildings.

"We wont catch up with them." Alex concluded morosely looking at the empty alley that faced them. "Lets get the car and try intercept them," he suggested turning to face the opposite way to the chase.

"You get the car, I'll try follow on foot and meet up with you." Camilla insisted sprinting off in the direction of the two runners before he had a chance to argue.

With no other choice, Alex followed her progress with one last exasperated look before jogging towards the car parked around the corner.

He felt dizzy from his quick descent and small black dots haunted his vision. _Maybe I've lost more blood then I thought,_ he admitted. So as not to attract further attention, Alex slowed to a brisk walk before he fainted and he stepped out into the street.

Alex muttered a lightheaded apology as he immediately stumbled into a trio of men moving in the opposite direction to him, heading towards the apartment. The bystanders stopped to stare at the pale youth for a moment before continuing on their way.

Mumbling to himself in frustration, Alex retrieved the keys from his pocket and got into the BMW, turning over its powerful engine.

* * *

><p>The same three men slowly walked into the flat on the fifth floor with astounded looks on their faces.<p>

The door was barely in place, leaning precariously on its hinges the locking mechanism splintered from the sturdy wood. A large mirror by the door was shattered into a spider web of cracks from a gunshot, the table and a set of chairs lay strewn and destroyed in the centre of the room. Finally among all that debris and chaos stood a single dark-skinned teenage girl looking distraught and lost.

It took a moment for the men to recover from the unusual sight and draw their weapons as their leader approached the girl. He was a stout figure with a mean, ugly face that looked like it had lost one too many fights; the voice was rough like sandpaper as Dimitri Ivanovich spoke.

"Amber is it? We meet at last, I think you know who I am and what I want."

His quiet voice belied the hidden violence and anger that emanated from the mob leader.

Amber finally seemed aware of the men in the room and pushed her throat to demand an answer from the villain.

"Where is my uncle?" She hissed, her voice raising barely higher then a whisper but holding as much menace as she could muster in her dazed state.

"Probably where I left him I expect." The confident Don replied airily, unfazed by her demands.

"I see that coward Miguel has pulled a runner, no surprises there." The cunning leader continued drably. "I hated having to cut that little weasel in but then how else was I going to get the inside information on you and your uncle?"

"Google might have worked too." Amber sarcastically drawled back, hating the felon all the more for the condescending tone he talked to her in.

"But you know what?" He continued loftily, "This works for me too. Gentlemen if you would." He nodded to the two men behind him.

The solidly built pair holstered their weapons before snatching an arm each of the weakened girl and driving her face first into the wall.

With a scream of pain and indignation Amber whipped her head back violently, narrowly missing one of the restrainers face before she felt a sharp sting in her neck. Ice spread from the site of puncture in her neck, as the powerful sedative drilled its way down from her jugular vein and into her systemic circulation. With each pump of her heart more of the chemical was delivered to her brain, slowing her throes and casting a vignette on her vision.

The two men only had to hold her for a few more seconds as the fight drained away from her as quickly as her consciousness.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N- **My apologies, a bit of a shorter chapter this one, it will be longer next chapter I assure you. Coming to the last assessments of my degree so expect a more regular update soon.

**-Grey.**

* * *

><p>Paulo backed the van up behind the inhabited building so that the side door sat flush in line with the gap between the buildings. A clear enclosed lane ran the length of the warehouse and now ended at the back with the open side door of the van. Paulo left the keys in the ignition and carefully climbed from the drivers seat to find his friend. Hex was at the far end of their corridor with a view that opened out onto the ocean.<p>

The warehouse they had targeted appeared to only have entry from one side that opened straight out onto the docks. Mere metres of dock separated the bland shed from the still black ocean that threatened to swallow the structure with its enormity.

A roller door used for cargo transfer was tightly closed against prying eyes and a single watchful man stood on sentry duty in front of a smaller door beside it.

"Got a plan?" Paulo breathed to his friend, aware of their proximity to the latest guard.

"Yup," He stated lifting a large dark shadow to show Paulo.

Paulo recognised it as the leather jacket his opponent had been wearing before he received a few thousand volts to the neck. Hex quietly slunk his arms in the sleeves and tugged at the collar until it sat right across his broad shoulders as he outlined his plan.

"I'll come from that direction and distract him, ask him for a cigarette or something. You jump him from behind then we'll work out some way to get inside."

Paulo felt an uneasy rolling in his stomach at the simple brutality of the plan but he nodded anyway.

"Good" Hex concluded putting on his opaque expression and passing his friend the baton.

The Argentinean nodded again grimly, before taking the heavy baton and exchanging it for his stun gun instead.

"Just in case." Paulo insisted pressing the device into the hacker's hand.

Hex smiled briefly, _good to have a plan B, _he decided before setting his mind into a place where he usually went when he had to walk the streets of London at night.

It was a little trick of his that revolved around filling his mind with images of danger and violence. The result meant that he moved and looked like a person who was alert and dangerous, not an easy target for the numerous gangs and criminals that lived in his neighbourhood. He was never quite sure how it worked but it seemed to convince the lower elements of London that he was not someone they wanted to mess with.

Perhaps it was by filling his mind with thoughts of violence and danger one would nonverbally project this in the form of body language and a change in general demeanour that was picked up other peoples subconscious. At a glance people would be unable to pinpoint what made them weary about this person but the dormant animal parts of the brain would pick up on the danger cues and warn them to stay away.

Paulo noticed this different type of aura settle around his friend as the teen fixed his opaque look before disappearing into the darkness.

* * *

><p>It was a couple of minutes before Paulo heard the unconcealed footsteps as his friend approached the shed from the front. The gentle patter seemed to echo against the sound of the sea surging as Hex walked over in a slow confident walk.<p>

Paulo was impressed, looking at his friend as if afresh he noticed the slight roll of his shoulders as he walked. His normally subdued gait had been stiffened as he pushed his height to the max and puffed out his considerable chest slightly. Even his stride looked different, more measured and forceful with each step. His hands swung freely at his side, ready for action and he scanned the area carefully with sharp eyes and a firm expression.

The overall impression was one of a tough confident man who was comfortable carrying a weapon and patrolling an empty warehouse complex.

For the first time in a while Paulo remembered the rough sort of area that Hex came from and considered how much harder life might be there for the teen. _Hex was forced to become tough pretty quick to survive_ he thought, _I guess we don't always see that side of him anymore because he is more relaxed with us now. _

The guard at the door seemed to stand up straighter, more rigid as Hex got closer.

_It's a dominance thing _Hex reminded himself as he got closer his pulse rapidly rising beneath his cool exterior. _I've just got to act like one of them to get him to relax, _he reassured himself.

Using the universal tough guy salute, Hex flicked his head up in greeting, his eyes not leaving the man. The guard returned the macho greeting and visibly relaxed as Hex came to a stop a few metres from him.

"Still all quiet?" The guard enquired conversationally, unable to fully see his colleague in the poor light.

Hex walked past him to lean against the shed casually at the question and shrugged. _Part of the dominance thing is appearing casual and effortless after the initial standoff like it's no big deal _he coached himself.

"Yep another boring night." He declared easily, his bored tone demonstrating the low level of threat he considered the other man.

The guard unconsciously mirrored the stance in a gesture of acceptance having recognised the new man as a peer.

"Looks like it." The man agreed unaware of exactly how wrong he was.

* * *

><p>In the alley Paulo cursed under his breath as the man leant against the building and trained his head away from Paulo to converse with Hex. <em>It's not quite the blindside I'd like; <em>Paulo wavered uncertainly gritting his teeth in frustration.

Hex was also worried about the current angle of attack and decided to try and change it.

"Got a smoke?" He asked his burly new friend.

The heavyset guard patted his breast pocket and pulled out a dull worn packet of cigarettes. "You're in luck." He growled with a small grin, "Last two."

Hex returned the hard mans smile and accepted the proffered stick with an approving nod, secretly disappointed as the guard kept his back firmly to the door.

Hex placed the thin stick between his lips, as the unwary man patted down his jacket, cursing as he searched for his lighter. _Please tell me I don't actually have to smoke this, _Hex prayed in disgust at the bitter taste that invaded his mouth.

An exceptionally devious idea suddenly dawned on Him and he quickly reached into his own pocket and retrieved a small device making sure he covered most of it with his hand.

"Allow me." He offered holding his hand towards the guard's own cigarette where it dangled from his pursed lips.

The man chuffed in approval and leaned forward raising a hand to shelter what he thought was a lighter from the bracing sea wind. Hex brought his other hand up to ignite the 'lighter' and strayed a finger to come over the button that triggered the weapon.

Seeing a small blue spark, the guard was still not alerted that anything was amiss even as a corresponding flame did not follow it. It was however followed by an upwards shove as Hex rammed the small stun gun up under the mans chin and delivered the hefty charge to his unwitting adversary.

Paulo leapt from the shadows to help Hex hustle the limp body back into the alleyway before it could collapse against the wall of the warehouse.

"Found his lighter" Hex chuckled as the small silver Zippo dropped out of the unconscious mans pocket when they slumped him down against a wall in the alley.

"_Amigo, _that was brilliant." Paulo praised as they swapped back weapons.

"Nifty little toy that." Hex conceded as he reluctantly retook his sturdy baton, slightly despondent.

"Wonder what the battery life is like?" He pondered quietly.

"Now what? Any ideas how to get in?" Paulo asked, having pocketed his stun gun once more.

"Hmmmm what if we didn't have to go in? What if they brought him out to us?" He enquired of his friend, as his eyes stumbled on an object at his feet.

"Well that'd be great _Hombre _but I don't see how we can do it." Paulo answered slightly confused.

Hex bent over briefly before replying with a mischievous grin.

"What? You've never pulled a fire alarm at school?" He taunted clicking open the Zippo one handed to reveal a small flickering flame.

Paulo matched the grin of his friend thinking that he looked decidedly roguish leaning against a wall in a dark jacket, lighter in hand, cigarette still clenched in teeth and a jaunty smile.

_If only Amber could see him at the moment_, he thought with an increasing air of amusement.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N-**Wait out. More to follow.

**-Grey.**

* * *

><p>Li hated to admit it but she was beginning to tire as the chase continued to stretch out.<p>

She was at the hight end of tolerable tachypnea and her shoulders were rising and falling with each breath, trying to increase the space in her chest and draw more air in. Her muscles held the consistency of pudding and felt like they would betray her and give out at any minute. A constant burning seemed to enflame her body from the exertion and riot against her continued activity.

The only thing pushing Li on was the proximity of the pursuit; literally only ten metres from her was her prey. This distance had steadily closed over the last couple of minutes but now the girl felt like she was having trouble finishing the chase. She could tell the man she chased was fading fast too so now it was just a question of holding on.

The only reason he was still running was because his fear of being caught, drowned out all the pain and discomfort he currently felt. Fear being a potent fuel, the leading runner began to open the distance between his pursuer.

Five hundred metres behind the main chase, Camilla silently thanked her physio for the fact that her knee was healed.

Being an avid runner before the injury, she had quickly put in the effort and rebuilt her aerobic fitness with long runs through the bush. One of the most distinct memories of these runs came to mind as she silently surged across the pavement.

It was the time she visited Alex and ran with him through the picturesque countryside in Northumbria. For a rare week that fell on his school holidays and her leave from the UN, she had stayed at his house with him and his family. Although she had enjoyed meeting his parents, especially his legendary father, they spent most of their time away from the house usually camping, hiking or running in the wilderness.

It was a week long overdue for the couple and was a chance for them to have some time together just the two of them. Long days just walking together and talking, followed by even longer nights pressed close warding off the cold air in their small tent. In her mind, it was a perfect week of intimacy with the teen she never seemed to get enough time with because of their busy schedules.

As she ran now, a phantom form of her running partner for that week seemed to form beside her, urging her on with his invisible lengthened strides and silent encouragement. Pushing the ghosts of the more pleasant memories aside she forced more energy into her legs and endeavoured to catch up to her fleeing friend.

* * *

><p>Miguel loped down the quiet streets, splitting the peace with his frantic efforts to keep in front of his pursuers. The cadence of footfall grew quieter behind him and his already racing heart dropped a beat in excitement.<p>

He hadn't stayed in high school very long but he had been on the track team, a natural runner the coach had told him. _I bet coach never thought about what I'd be running from, _the slim olive skinned man thought with a wry smile his face drenched in perspiration.

Confident with his effort he made the mistake of turning around to judge the lag of his pursuers.

It was just as he was coming up to an intersection with a small road and he never saw the car coming.

A dark BMW pulled right into the path of the running man and he ran straight into the broad side of the halted vehicle. Miguel collided with the cars drivers side door with a loud whump that knocked him back off his feet and drove the air from his already stretched lungs.

The winded man could only sit on the curb as his diaphragm spasmed, refusing to expand his chest while the driver got out.

Alex stood in front of him and off to one side, blocking his direction of escape.

"I'm sure that will buff right out," Alex quipped, examining the large dent in the door caused by the fleeing mans rapid deceleration.

"Maybe we should exchange insurance details anyway." He suggested mockingly with an entertained grin at the growing expression of horror on Miguel's diaphoretic face.

The expression was set in stone when an out of breath Li skidded to a halt behind the seated man. She reached a splayed hand through his long greasy hair, her knee coming to rest in the back of his neck just above C- 7. She drew his head back around the lever of her knee to a point where it was uncomfortable but not painful and held him there.

A warning.

The Adams apple that was exposed to Alex slid up in the villain's throat before plummeting as the man swallowed in terror. Alex nodded in approval to a cool eyed Li before she stepped forward to search the man. Li released the handful of hair she was holding and planted her knee back on the ground, her free hand now drifted to sit lightly on the prisoners broken clavicle.

Another warning, a promise of what was to follow if he did not cooperate.

"Hands on your head." She gruffly ordered their captive, the imperative in her voice forcing the man to comply.

The arm with the fractured collarbone trembled in pain as it was lifted to place its hand at the back of his head with its counterpart. Li pressed her hand down on top of the laced fingers firmly, trapping his hands in place as she took a narrow plastic band from her pocket.

It was slightly wider then the average cable tie and was utilised by various forces worldwide as a cheap, quick set of handcuffs. The plastic was surprisingly strong and capable of holding even the strongest arms. Because of a clever design they were very easy to tighten and notoriously difficult to loosen, making them ideal for restraint. They were also durable and took a decent effort to sever. Finally they were light, easy to store and silent, which made them a must have for any paramilitary group expecting to handle prisoners.

Alpha Force already carried them in their bags as a useful substitute for rope or tape in some circumstances; it was Alex's idea to practice this alternative utilisation of them.

Li roughly looped the band around the two wrists and dragged it tight, drawing the prisoner's palms together. Just like they had practiced hundreds of times, she made sure it wasn't too tight and cutting of his circulation before stepping around the front of him and looping a hand through the gap in his arm created by the bound wrists.

Her hand snaked around under the aloft wrists before bracing on the back of his neck. Using the arms as a fulcrum to hyper-extend his neck, she levered the man forward over his balance to lie him facedown on the pavement.

* * *

><p>With the prisoner in a safer position she conducted a thorough search of the mans body and pockets while Alex stood off to a side moving so she was never between him and the bound man. He was ready to jump in at any second should he try something, not that Li couldn't handle it.<p>

They weren't going to be caught out again by a concealed weapon.

His focus was pushed to the limits though as Camilla finally caught up and stood back a few metres watching in fascination.

His eyes caught on a bead of sweat that began its gravity-induced journey from her honeyed hair down her beautiful flushed face and onto her slim neck. He felt his own body begin to sweat as the daring drop descended ever so slowly down the smooth skin on the side of her perfect neck.

It began to slow as it ran into the hollow alcove created by the collarbone, where it rested and his gaze lingered. Secretly Alex remembered the effect his kisses in that spot had caused as the brave drip continued its descent. Camilla's deep recovering breaths had forced the drop from the shelter of the recess behind her collarbone and it continued to follow the natural contours further south.

Alex's eyes traced the slow path of the liquid in a sudden excitement as it flowed down her bronzed skin towards the nape of the black singlet. With a final burst of speed the bead of sweat was encouraged by the heavy breathing and descended down the blonde girls top to start its journey through an ample valley.

Alex's eyes stung having not been blinked for minutes now as his gaze lingered passionately.

The stirring of memories to do with the sight displayed to him was interrupted quite suddenly as Li stood back up straight having finished her frisking of the prisoner.

"Alex?" Li barked, catching the zoned out look on his face.

"Wha.. What?" Alex blustered snapping back into hard reality to reassess the situation with freshly blinked eyes and a tinge of embarrassment.

The first thing that caught his attention was the piercing sounds that grew louder as he diverted his eyes from an object of beauty. The wail of sirens seemed awfully close and sent a bolt of urgency through his usually calm, collected mind.

"Shit someone must have called the cops when they heard shots. We better go back, pick up Amber and bug out." Alex decided in haste, realising how much time he had lost in his revelry.

"What about him?" Camilla asked having finally found her lungs.

"We take him." Li declared, "He still has information we need and we've got to keep the police out of this one remember."

Alex forlornly agreed with a nod, "The boot," He suggested as he used the key to open the storage compartment at the back of the car.

Miguel finally had enough air to breath and started to protest at the open mouth of darkness that yawned for him to ride in. "No way! You can't do this! I.."

Li snarled impatiently at him cutting off his protest.

"Get in yourself or I'll put you in."

She was all to aware that they had left Amber back in an apartment that the police were now very interested in.

The threat had its intended effect on the man and with fuming eyes he slowly climbed into the awaiting unknown of the boot.

Camilla slammed the boot hard and climbed in the back seat behind Alex. Li passed Alex's side before climbing in the passenger seat, anxious to get moving.

"Jeez Alex, way to prang Mr. Middleton's brand new BMW! Which vending machine did you get your licence from?" She commented sarcastically, her anxiety being redirected into humour as they pulled off the mark to pick up their friend.

There wasn't much else Alex could do but grin at the dig as he turned the vehicle back towards the hotel. His eyes flicked to the rear view mirror, affectionatley noticing the girl in the backseat with her eyes closed in fatigue.

Li pulled out her phone and selected the favourite contacts icon, highlighting Amber's name, she pressed call. Pressing the phone to her ear she was startled to hear a beeping signifying that the other phone was engaged.

"Engaged." She uttered in a confused voice.

"I don't like it" Alex declared picking up his speed, "We better get over there quick and see how she is."


	15. Chapter 15

Paulo stuffed the petrol soaked rag through a crack in a window on the far side of the building, as far from John's room as he could get. The fumes wafted back to find his nose and shove him with a hit of dizziness.

Keeping his head together, the teen leaned forward to do what all teenage boys love doing, setting fire to stuff.

The lighter sparked and caught on the first go, producing a wavering orange pillar of flame that danced precariously in the crisp sea breeze. Sheltering the fragile wisp of light from the threatening wind he carefully raised the flickering fire to sit under the dirty rag. Paulo was surprised when the flames took hold with a loud woosh of ignition, taking most of the hair off his arm with it.

His arson duties complete, the teen ignored the foul smell of singed hair and ran back around the front side of the building where Hex was waiting.

Flames consumed the dry warehouse much quicker then the boys would ever have guessed as they pressed their bodies flat against the walls either side of the single door. Internal smoke detection devices picked up the smoke and triggered the shrill pitch of alarms that split the silent night air, as the flames grew higher. The deluge system sprung into life delivering its continuos payload of water but the fire was too far in its rampage.

Cries of panic and coughing could soon be heard from the building as the two guards inside did their best to combat the fire. Realising that the blaze was too far out of control they decided to grab the hostage and evacuate. Their hostage was worth millions and therefore more then any warehouse, they justified as they quickly cut the bonds binding their prisoner to the chair.

Coughing furiously at the mounting smoke that hung around their heads, the two large guards manhandled their precious living cargo to the door of the building. John's feet dragged along the ground between them as the thick arms that held him fast under the armpits sledged him along. His head was foggy and internally he screamed in frustration at the weakness he felt, which prevented him from trying to escape at this opportune time.

The blessed smell of fresh sea air suddenly washed over the three relieved men as they collectively stumbled out of the heat and into the chilled night.

The dedicated guards managed to drag their charge a few metres clear of the door before they were forced to drop him in fatigue as they doubled over racked with coughing fits. Hacking and spitting up black sputum the men didn't notice as two teens stealthily padded from the shadows towards them.

* * *

><p>The sickening hollow thud of cranium colliding with something much harder was the first clue something was wrong, as the man on the left was dispatched by a blow from behind. The guard on the right pivoted on the spot to stare uncomprehending at the unconscious form of his friend, a small puddle of blood and cerebrospinal fluid was slowly spreading from his damaged skull. As the second of realisation hit him so did two cold metal prongs that dug deep into the exposed muscle of his neck.<p>

A reduced current tore through his body from the point of contact as the device only produced a feeble spark. Spinning on the spot he came face to face with a puzzled Paulo who still held the dying stun gun to his neck.

"_Dios_." The teen cursed in frustration, what a time for the battery to run out.

Reacting from years of violence, the guard brushed the weapon hand away by waving his forearm away from his body. At the same time he chambered for a punch to this new opponent who had got the drop on him. His reactions were slowed by exhaustion and smoke inhalation, which meant that Paulo recovered first.

The teen delivered a quick jab with the hand still holding his weapon, giving him a reinforced blow to land on his opponents chin. The guard stumbled backwards in recoil trying to regain his balance as he flailed closer to the water behind him.

Seeing his opportunity, Paulo sprung forward and delivered an almighty shove to his foes exposed chest. The two hands connected solidly knocking the wind from the stunned chest and driving the man back the final few metres it took to push him to the edge. With windmilling arms the unlucky guard fought desperately for balance as he teetered dangerously on the edge of the dock. As it was in most cases, gravity won and the unforgiving sea claimed its victim with a splash.

His target taken out of action Paulo whirled to check on John who was already being assessed by Hex.

"Hey Mr. Middleton can you hear me?" The hacker asked in concern as he lightly shook the man. John's swollen eyes opened a crack at the familiar voice and weakly nodded.

Following their plan the two wasted no more time on scene and simply hooked an arm each under the injured man's shoulders facing the opposite direction to the sitting man. They then ran as one back towards the van, their firm hold ensuring that their patient was quickly dragged along between them. It took both of the teens to lug the large man into the back of the van, his barely conscious form residing as dead weight.

Hex left Paulo to care for their patient as he slid across into the front seat and keyed the ignition. The van peeled off the mark and made a straight beeline for the road with its precious cargo. The increasingly ferocious flames provided a backlight for their getaway.

* * *

><p>In the back Paulo was multitasking, trying to get Mr. Middleton comfortable and send a text message to the others updating them on recent events. With his message sent he went on to assess the group's friend and manager. He started by gently calling John's name and shaking him to see if he would respond to these stimuli. The man's eyes pried open a crack to find the source of the voice.<p>

"Paulo?" he mumbled in confusion, his words deformed by the swelling and missing teeth from his mouth.

"Yea Mr. Middleton. It's Paulo. Hex and I have got you. You're safe now." The teen reassured the older man, placing a hand gently on his shoulder.

"Hex? Amber?" The injured man slurred in delirium before closing his eyes again wearily.

Noting that his patient had lost consciousness again he carefully rolled the prone body into the recover position, making sure to tilt the chin up slightly and thus protecting his airway. He counted a sufficient rate of shallow breathing from the steady bulge of the man's chest and felt a rapid thready radial pulse hammering away in the wrist closest him.

With the light of the van Paulo was able to fully see the damage the hostage takers had inflicted and frankly, he was shocked.

The patient who lay before him, what remained of Amber's uncle, looked like absolute hell. _They've beaten the shit out of him_ Paulo concluded as he examined the once familiar face, which was basically a pulp of bruises and broken skin with facial features rendered unrecognisable with swelling.

Gently palpating the swollen skull his fingers found several areas of leniency underneath the bruising at the front and instantly withdrew his pressure. _He's got a couple of fractures in his skull here for sure_ Paulo recognised eyeing the spots critically. He continued his examination and dragged open the swollen eye lids to examine his patients pupils, the brown circles so similar to Amber's sluggishly dilated in the light he exposed them to. _Not a good sign. _

Hex piped up from the front where he had anxiously been glancing in the rear-view mirror when the road could spare his attention.

"Where to Paulo?" He asked apprehensively, noting the ominous quiet that had descended in the back of his van.

Paulo considered the question for a second before answering, his tone burdened with responsibility. "I know it's not part of the original plan _hombre _but he needs to go to hospital and quickly."

Hex didn't hesitate for a second or doubt his medically savvy friend, instead he just programmed their new destination into the GPS of his palmtop and signalled to get in the right lane.

"Right, I'm on it." He reassured his concerned partner in the back.

Paulo once more felt the warmth of gratitude to the quiet hacker, who he realised, was probably his best friend in the world and someone he could always count on. They were two completely different types of people but they shared a strong belief in doing the right thing, which bound them. While they would always have their differences and their quirks, he knew there was nobody else he would trust with his back. The reverse was true too, Paulo knew he would always back up his quiet geeky friend when it counted.

"Thanks _amigo." _He replied, meaning every word of it.

Returning his attention to John he finished assessing his head by running his fingers down his cheekbones noting the shattered one that created a slightly lopsided look to the once handsome man. The broken Zygomatic had turned a very dark purple that bordered on black and left the eye on the same side puffed closed in its socket and with a noticeable droop to it.

Dried blood lined John's lips and with a sense of foreboding Paulo opened up the man's mouth to look inside. Blood had congealed in the gaps where several teeth usually sat and the smell of vomit was hot on the breath that pushed lightly against Paulo's face.

Continuing his systematic sweep, Paulo lifted up John's shirt and slowly walked his fingers down the fragile vertebrae of the spine, starting at the base of the skull and also looking for any changes in colour or warmth.

Finding no abnormality he moved onto the chest. A groan and wince cut through the patients unconscious state as Paulo carefully sprung his ribcage and felt down the length of his ribs. The horrible rippling of crepitus as bone ends rubbed together under his touch halted further palpation. _A lot of bruising on those ribs, definitely a couple of them busted, _he concluded moving lower.

John's abdomen was a darkened mass of bruising where he had been repeatedly struck, it was impossible for Paulo to tell how much internal damage there was and he moved on. Cupping the man's flank where the kidneys lay he felt the muscles underneath tense in pain. Sighing and shaking his head at the extreme amounts of pain of his friend must be in, he finished assessing the limbs and sat back.

Paulo swung his fist back in frustration at the wall beside him, striking it with an impact that echoed through the van. There was nothing he could to help the man with the limited equipment he had on hand and all he could do was keep him comfortable until they arrived at hospital.

* * *

><p>Li's phone buzzed in her hand as she input Amber's number and went to dial again. Surprised she quickly accepted the call and held the speaker to her ear, the others edging as close as they could to overhear the caller.<p>

"Oh hi Paulo," She answered sounding a little bit shocked by the callers identity.

A tiny voice replied to her from the speaker.

"No it's just I was expecting a call from someone else that's all Cowboy." She explained hurriedly.

The shrunken voice of the Argentinean on the other end started up again and Li's face suddenly brightened with joy and she slid the mouthpiece up to cure her friend's confused glances.

"Hex and Paulo have got him out safe and sound!" she announced in an excited whisper.

A cheer rang out in the car at the good news and almost drowned out the rest of Paulo's message.

"Paulo says that John's pretty banged up so they are swinging by the hospital before meeting back up with us at the mansion." Li added after a moment of listening.

"We have picked up a passenger ourselves," She informed the other end of the line, "And we are just going to pick up Amber now."

In the background she could hear Paulo relaying the news to Hex who was obviously with him.

"Ok keep in touch, see you guys soon." Li signed off, before stowing her phone with a brand new, happy expression. The news had lifted the spirits of the car; this was almost the best outcome they could have hoped for.

The happy spirits were only pushed higher as her phone rattled again on the dashboard the caller ID lighting up with a picture of two familiar girls posing outrageously for a camera.

In capitals the name scrolled across the picture.

AMBER.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N- **No more uni! We will celebrate with a new chapter I think.

**- Grey "Graduating" Southpaw.**

* * *

><p>The sole heir to the Middleton fortune regained consciousness on the plush leather seats of a limousine. Disorientated and thinking for a minute that she had dozed off on a trip with her uncle, the reality quickly dawned on her as her memories of the last few hours overwhelmed her.<p>

It was at this point she realised that she was not alone in the limousine either.

A broad shouldered thug sat on the seat next to her, looking like a gorilla who had been squeezed into a cheap suit. She treated him to her best Queen of the mean scowl and tried to focus on her surroundings. The vehicle was stationary from what she could tell and as her hearing returned to her she could hear a whooshing noise and the sound of a man yelling from outside.

Leaning past the hired muscle to peer out the window she was astounded to see a huge building completely ablaze in the background. Firemen were frantically scrambling around the inferno trying to quell the heat with flowing tendrils of water from thick hoses.

To Amber it looked like a losing battle and it was then that she noticed the men standing by the side of the road in the foreground. One was the boar of a man she had met earlier that seemed to hold some authority, the others were a couple of dishevelled men of the same ilk as the thug beside her. The two large men kept rubbing their necks in pain and looked extremely nervous as they desperately tried to explain what had happened to their boss.

Amber suddenly realised that these must have the warehouses that Hex and Paulo went to investigate. Thinking of her friends caused a pang in her chest and instinctively she reached for her cellphone, surprised to find it was still where she usually kept it. _Afraid to search a girl properly huh? _She thought in triumph, snatching a glance at the guard beside her before refocussing out the window.

Ivanovich was not a man known for his temper or his forgiveness and the strained look of fury that painted the mans face was testament to this fact.

Silhouetted by the blaze the merciless leader drew his pistol and shot one of his own quaking employees in the head.

The noise was lost in the fire behind them but the images of the spray exiting the dead mans head and way his lifeless corpse fell, sunk deep into Amber's mind as if she had received the bullet herself.

She realised there and then that she didn't have very much time at all.

Working as subtly as she could and making it look like she was readjusting herself, she slid her phone from it's usual hiding spot. Unnoticed by her silent guard she nudged her phone onto the seat beside her where it would be hidden from her minder. Stealing a glance at the screen she realised that the device was off for some reason. It must have got knocked at some point Amber figured, as she thumbed the power button with the hand she held at her side.

_Please turn on! _She begged silently.

A small light issued from the device, answering her prayers, as its circuits fired into life and began to boot up the phone. In shock Amber just remembered about the start up tone in time and managed to slide the phone underneath her to suppress the noise it would make. Trying to divert attention away she coughed and looked out the window once more.

Fire was reflected back in the eyes of the killer as he turned to the second man who had failed him. An outburst of exclamations and protests escaped from the man as he futilely tried to justify his continued existence. Regretfully, Amber could already see that the henchman's fate was sealed and his doom inevitable. The fury that had overtaken his leader was personified in the blaze that burned behind them, a monument to the guard's failure.

His gun swung to point at the unlucky man and Amber knew she was out of time.

* * *

><p>Shuffling the phone out from under her leg, she braved a look and saw several new messages and four missed calls from Li. In the background her wallpaper of a picture from last Christmas gave her the courage to continue.<p>

Her uncle took the picture when her friends had come to spend the holidays at their place. It was a photo of the team, just Alpha Force: huddled together on her couch smiling in a very posed fashion for the shot.

On the far left, Li sat cross-legged her red scarf hiding most of her long belt of hair, on the floor in front of her Paulo lounged casually giving his dazzling lady-killer smile. Alex sat beside Li, his grey eyes shinning with genuine warmth and his less obvious smile showing through to the seasoned eye of his friends. It was as though even his emotions he tried to keep camouflaged and hidden.

Finally beside him sat the one that really lent her strength the enigma of a hacker from London. In a concession to both Amber and the season, a red and white Santa hat mussed his normally spiky hair. His emerald eyes twinkled in the photo showing through the joy that often didn't break through his guarded expressions. This day however his mouth was split in a wide smile, mid laugh with the dark girl beside him.

A smile and a tear traced Amber's face in the second it took her to take in the photo. Her wallpaper used to be a picture she had of just the two of them but she had quickly changed after Li opened her phone for the first time and discovered it.

A flash from outside the window signified the end of another mans life and the end of her time too. In a panic she jabbed the redial button over the highlighted missed call alert and the phone began to connect. Crunching footsteps drew closer and suddenly the door was yanked open to reveal a furious Ivanovich just as Li picked up.

His eyes suddenly caught the faint glow of the screen and Amber scrambled to pick up the device as all hell broke loose in the back of the limo. A furious yell from the mob leader spurred his men into action and Amber just managed to choke off one word before the phone was wrenched from her grasp.

"Help!" She pleaded into the phone as powerful hands ripped it from her grasp and the connection was terminated.

Amber was forced back into her seat at the end of the scuffle and Ivanovich addressed her face to face, his musky breath choking her with rage.

"You picked a bad fucking time to try and call the police." He snarled his voice low and dangerous.

"I find two of my most trusted men jumped by unknown assailants, my hostage gone, a van missing and my building on fire. It is safe to say I'm pretty pissed off and happy to take it out on someone."

He snapped the phone in half as a demonstration of how serious he was and turned to address his men.

"Now how about someone does what I pay them for? Search her again, properly this time and take everything. I don't know how you found Miguel but I'm not taking any more chances."

* * *

><p>Rough hands dragged a protesting Amber from the vehicle and shoved her up against the side of the limo. Her hands were then cuffed with cable ties and the two men pushed her face first against the long car. The deserted streets held no witnesses as the guards proceeded to search her.<p>

In the backdrop of the distant flames Amber gasped in sudden pain as the cold tip of a blade pressed into the small of her back. In one smooth motion the knife was drawn up to her neck slitting open the full length of the dark shirt she wore. Fighting the urge to turn and scream in indignation, the remains of her shirt were hastily ripped off her black leaving her standing there in only her black sports bra.

Her skin crawled in revulsion as large hands pinned her hips to the car. Amber snapped and tried to spin on the spot, furious words exploding from her mouth only to be knocked out of her by a brutal punch in the kidney. Panting in pain she bit her tongue in frustration and was quiet once more.

What followed was far worse and caused bile to catch in her throat with the outrage of it. The cold blade made its reappearance, invisible to her as it was slipped down the back of her trousers and slashed down the length of the fabric. One more slash removed the pants entirely and left a cold violated teenager girl standing in her underwear with her hands on her head.

Shivers rocked the girls body that were completely unrelated to the cold air and bitter tears were all that remained of her she understood that logically, stripping down a prisoner had the advantage of revealing any concealed items and further breaking their spirit, she couldn't but feel as if her most basic rights were being disregarded.

Seeing that she now had nothing to hide the guards spun her around to face them, their leering glances not going unnoticed by Amber. She flushed in shame at the degrading way they stripped her of her privacy and left her exposed to these cretins.

Theirs eyes already pinned in the region; the guards quickly noticed the Alpha Force tracer and the golden Omega necklace that hung low around Amber's neck. The unforgiving blade hooked through the chains that the ornaments perpetually hung from and dragged it taut.

Amber finally broke down at the prospect of losing her final two possessions and broke into tears.

"Please just leave me with them." She begged the guard, disgusted at how much they had broken her. "They were my parents and they are all I have left."

The greedy man eyed the gold with a keen interest and ignoring her pleas he twisted the knife snapping the chains. He caught both pieces of jewellery and held them under the nearest streetlight to inspect them better.

"You can afford a new necklace." He declared pocketing the small golden jewelery and moving his attention to the other object.

Amber's chest seemed to burn with the absence of her parents combined wedding rings and she dropped to her knees in grief.

"What's this junky thing?" The thug questioned dumbly, staring at the small necklace that contained her tracer.

"It was a present from my boyfriend." Amber partly lied.

"Pretty valuable huh?" The bullying man questioned, staring at the small object.

"Only to me." Amber answered meekly, trying to play down its significance while at the same time find a way to keep it.

"Oh is that so? The guard enquired, critically evaluating the broken half naked girl knelt at his feet.

"Sucks to be you then." He declared with a cruel laugh as he drew his arm back and threw the object off into the distance.

The small fluttering of hope died in Amber's chest and she let herself be dragged back into the vehicle as it left the still uncontrolled blaze. Her despair was at its peak and she barely heard the men's discussion about the secondary holding point they taking her to.

* * *

><p>A stunned silence fell over the three teens in the car as they listened to the dull beeping from Li's phone that indicated a terminated call.<p>

"Shit!" Alex swore in a calm seething rage.

"Amber!" Li whispered still staring at the dead phone in her hand.

"What do we do now?" Camilla asked despondently, voicing what was on everyone's mind.

Alex drove in silence for a second, mentally kicking himself for his lack of oversight and forward planning.

"We regroup and we find her." He finally stated his voice thick with conviction.

He tugged the steering wheel hard, tearing the car into a U-turn and throwing his passengers about with the Gs. The wheels shrieked in protest and emitted twin clouds of burnt rubber.

"We'll meet up with Hex and Paulo at the hospital then find some way to get her back."

"Yea now we are talking." Li cheered in agreement, broken from her slump at the idea of taking action.

Alex furrowed his brow in determination, worried less about the villains and more about how he was going to explain their current situation to a certain young hacker.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N- **FYI: I have gone back an re-edited the first 15 chapters just to improve the spelling and sentence structure so hopefully that's cleaned it up a bit.

**-Grey.**

* * *

><p>The young hacker in question was pulling his van up in front of the Emergency Department of their nearest hospital, oblivious to the sudden change in circumstances.<p>

Paulo was having difficulty rousing his patient and was wracking his brain trying to think of a way to get him inside. The van jerked to a halt and Hex jumped out of the front as Paulo once more tried to get John Middleton to wake up by rubbing his knuckles firmly back and forth down his sternum. Despite the burning pain this technique caused, John only feebly opened one eye and weakly tried to push his hand away with a small mumble.

The side door was suddenly torn open loudly and Paulo spun expecting a fight. Instead he saw a welcome sight, Hex was standing there with two uniformed paramedics and a gurney.

"I asked these guys if they didn't mind us borrowing their stretcher for a minute." Hex explained, his face was light up by the look of gratitude that shined at him from his friend.

Relieved by his friend's quick thinking, Paulo helped the Ambulance officers roll John onto the stretcher and watched in admiration as they raised the height of the bed till it stood tall on its scissoring legs. The four rescuers then rapidly started wheeling their patient towards the doors at the back of the building marked ambulance only.

"We'll take him through the back door here," The first paramedic, a young blond haired man, explained, "It's quicker then going through the triage centre."

"Thanks." Paulo replied in appreciation. As they wheeled the high trolley into the white walled well-lit hospital.

"What the hell happened to him anyway?" Asked the second paramedic who was an older man with a tired face and greying hair.

"We found our friend like this, we think someone's beaten him up." Hex hastily stretched the truth.

The second medic eyed the teen suspiciously before turning to his partner. "This guys in pretty bad shape we'll run him straight into resus I think." He decided, receiving a nod of acknowledgement for his effort.

They suddenly swerved right and headed through an automatic door marked resuscitation. On the other side were five curtained off sections each containing a narrow white bed surrounded by countless machines, monitors and medical equipment. They wheeled John into the first free room and lowered the stretcher to the same height as the bed. The four were preparing to transfer the patient across when a hawk-eyed nurse descended on them to help.

"What's the story here?" She asked in an impatient voice that was dulled by fatigue.

The younger paramedic turned to hand the patient over to her verbally as the others got John across onto the second bed.

"These kids rolled up with him in the car park and asked for our help. We don't know anything about him but they claim they found the guy like this and suspect he's been assaulted."

He explained briskly before grabbing the other end of the now empty stretcher and popping it back up to its normal height with a several small clicks.

"Sorry we've got another callout to make, all the best boys!" He yelled over his shoulder as the pair took their bed and rushed away.

"Thanks again!" Paulo yelled after them as more nurses began to arrive and started hooking John up to the various monitors behind him. One was already bent at the knee tapping his hand to bring up the veins with one hand while she held a cannula at the ready in her other. Hex slumped down into a seat and was quickly followed by the drained Paulo. It was difficult for them to see their friend in such a condition, hidden behind a bustling team of nurses with the long threads of monitoring cables stretching off his prone form. A harassed looking doctor finally arrived to coordinate his team and begin assessing the new casualty.

"Name?" He barked at the two seated teens.

Flustered by the sudden question Hex stuttered out an answer.

"J..John. John Middleton."

The doctor nodded and a nurse swung a torch past John's eyes "Can you hear me John?' she cooed.

"Wait." The doctor jumped turning fully to stand over Hex and Paulo. "Did you say John Middleton?"

"Yes Dr." Paulo replied somewhat confused at the reaction to his name.

The doctor clapped the teens on the shoulder and his face took on a new brightness. "Why the hell didn't you say so?" The doctor demanded, "His company is one of the biggest donators to this hospital, the guys a legend around here."

The two teens remembered how to grin and turned to face each other.

"Isn't that just typical John? He always seems to know someone wherever we go!" Hex pointed out with a chuckle.

Paulo shared the laugh; "He's just Mr. Popular, friends everywhere who owe him a favour!"

"Well you don't need to worry he will get the best care possible here." The man assured them loudly before continuing in a quiet voice for only the boys. "I also know that he has gotten mixed up in some dangerous stuff in the past, you can tell me the truth and we can look after him together."

Happy to let an adult take over for a change, they quickly filled the medical professional in on what had happened and the situation as they knew it.

"Wow!" He exclaimed when they finished, "If it was any other patient I wouldn't believe it but it seems to me that we have a problem. He could still be in danger here if these people are now looking for him."

Hex nodded grimly having seen the dilemma himself and he stood up to present his solution. "Fix him up and we will take him away Doc. We don't mean to endanger your department anymore then we already have."

The brave doctor shook his head, "Unacceptable." He declared, "This man needs ongoing care, I will talk to a few friends of his and see if they will oblige to come over and provide him with some security."

Hex nodded satisfied at this and sat back down beside a gently snoring Paulo to await his friends.

* * *

><p>It wasn't a long wait.<p>

Alex, Camilla and Li stumbled into the emergency department to find their two friends fast asleep in the plastic chairs in triage. They both smelt strongly of smoke and looked exhausted beyond belief. Paulo slept where he sat, his head swung back over the edge of the chair, his long curly hair flowing behind him. Beside him Hex had the sense to sprawl out, lying across the length of several uncomfortable chairs, his tall frame fully stretched out.

With great reluctance and more then a little jealousy they woke their sleeping friends. Paulo lazily complied with frequent shakings until he gained full consciousness while Hex sat bolt upright straight away.

"Where's Amber?" He immediately asked, his hackles rising as he counted only three of his friends standing in front of him.

"_Amigo, _her uncle is hurt she is probably in the other room seeing him at the moment." Paulo suggested lazily, with a stretch and a yawn.

Hex wanted to believe his comrade but the look on the three standing friends told him otherwise. They were all nervously avoiding his eyes, pointedly looking at anything but him. A picture of hurt painted Alex's face as he cleared his throat, causing an ominous glow to begin in Hex's chest.

"Hex." He began, stepping forward and shouldering the burden of breaking the news to the teen.

The hacker didn't need to hear the words that were being carefully chosen by his friend. He knew something had happened to the girl he cared so much about and that was all that mattered in his mind.

He rose from his seat as Alex approached and tried to explain what had happened.

Paulo could feel the tension in the air crackling like lightening between the friends; he also noticed the change in Hex's demeanour as it slipped back across to the harder teen he had witnessed earlier.

"She was still recovering from our ordeal in Miguel's flat and told us to follow him when he escaped, she insisted she would catch up."

"And you just left her there alone?" Hex hissed in a steely dangerous voice that embodied barely contained fury.

The effect was not lost on the usually unperturbed Alex, who felt like the heat from the furnace glare was cooking him in his skin. Sweat burst in a line down his back and his face drained of what little colour it had as he went into damage control trying to justify his decision.

With a forlorn expression Alex tried again.

"Miguel was getting away and she demanded we leave her and chase him." He stated defensively, his even stare not leaving the increasingly agitated young man in front of him.

The hospital waiting room had fallen deathly quiet as if sensing the charged atmosphere and the pending breaking point.

Alex took Hex's stoic silence as a que to continue his narrative and defence.

"We all charged out and got him but she never caught up." His voice shattered and gave out on him as he tried to convey to the jury what had happened.

Seeing her partner struggling and fearing what the admission was putting him through, Camilla stepped forward to lend her silent support by taking up his good hand gently.

Li also advanced carefully, her head down in a shared shame to deliver the final blow that Alex had been unable to throw.

"I'm so sorry Hex but she was taken." Li whispered morosely and watched in abysmal sadness at the flicker of unmistakeable fear and regret that broke through the façade that Hex wore.

A slip of the mask.

In an instant the blanked expression was replaced and emotion only shined through unshielded in the lads sad green eyes.

Inside Hex an internal battle was raging.

Fear and concern were huddled together in the back corner of his mind shuddering and quaking as a seething fury stood paramount, roaring its presence and blocking any semblance of reasonable thought.

The one girl he had ever really cared about was in some kind of danger and he wasn't there to protect her. The thought ate him alive like a rust, a cancer of the spirit that eroded his very reason to live, to carry on. _If something has happened to her, _he started thinking before breaking the line of thought, unable to carry his efficient mind down that path.

The desire to lash out, to attack, to hurt, to damage someone was almost overwhelming and represented the secret thoughts he saved for her captors. In a leap in logic that was so out of sorts for his calculating mind, his blame fell on one person.

_Alex._

Hex's brain seemed to have reverted to some sort of less functional capacity from rage, words vaguely registered in his ears as his friends desperately tried to talk to him. It was as though the latest news was an incompatible upgrade for the hard drive in his brain and it had to reset into an older version of all the programs to keep running. He was running on Hex 2.0 at the moment and this less cognitive model decided to perform one of its more primitive functions.

The muscles through Hex's legs, hips and back had contracted before he was even aware and his shoulders rippled, pumping his right fist from his body up at the face of the teen he held responsible.

Alex eyes widened momentarily before the closed hand smashed into his face right on the bridge of his nose. He was rocked off his feet in shock and fell back solidly onto the sickly pale hospital floors.

Alex had expected Hex to take the news badly but he hadn't expected him to bring the violence.

Li and Paulo pounced forward in an instant to check their friend as he surged forward in an effort to reach the teen on the ground. The stony face was finally broken from its neutral expression and was now twisted in an ugly unbounded rage.

"Bastard" He cursed at Alex from his position of restraint oblivious and uncaring to the shocked audiences of nurses and patients.

"I trusted you to go with her and keep her safe, we all did." He growled like a trapped beast his hungry eyes burning into the man at his feet.

Alex couldn't answer, shocked by his friend's outburst and ashamed by the strains of truth in his bitter words. With a broken keen to his eyes, he applied pressure to the throbbing cartilage of his nose and remained silent under the scrutiny of Hex's deadly focus. Camilla dropped to her knees to support her downed man, propping him up from behind with her body.

"Hey you can't put all of this on Alex." Li scolded as her and Paulo released a now motionless Hex. "You know Amber better then any of us, do you really think we could have done anything but leave? You know how stubborn she is, the girl shouted us out of there."

Hex conceded the point with a smarting silence as he began to throw his walls back up again.

"_Hombre, _you need to remember who the real bad guys are here." Paulo insisted of his best friend, his brown eyes holding a plea.

"Those are both fair enough points." Hex admitted, the logical calculating teen returning to the helm.

"But I still reckon you are off your game and I think you know it" He accused sternly, pointing a finger at Alex in front of him.


	18. Chapter 18

Alex's head reeled from the blow and the realisation that Hex was absolutely right. He had been distracted; preoccupied to the extent that it affected his decision-making, all to the detriment of his friend's safety.

Alex held his hands above his head in surrender where he sat on the ground in front of Camilla.

"I'll admit it," he confessed with his head lowered in shame, "I screwed up big time. I've been distracted, not thinking straight and I think you all know why."

"But I still think we can fix this situation; we can get Amber back." He looked up to meet his friend's eyes with a spark of hope and confidence burning once more. "That is if you are willing to trust me once more." His flowing gaze finally fell on Hex's face seeking forgiveness.

Hex's expression was unreadable, a mix of suppressed anger, frustration and something less quantifiable. This expression lasted up until the point where he extended his hand to the downed teen, when it cracked with the small peace offering in the curve at the edges of his mouth. The internal turmoil raged on but logic and friendship won out in the end; the desire to forgive one friend and to rescue another outweighing any past wrongs.

Spirits roused in Alex's chest and he felt the fire of confidence refill from the small gesture of friendship as he accepted the helping hand. Both teens pulled through their clasped hands and Alex was pulled from the ground with Camilla not far behind. The two stood in front of each other with their hands clenched in a stern grip of mutual respect before Alex dropped his hand to address the group.

"Alright lets do this! We still have an Ace in the hole, we've got Miguel and hopefully he can tell us where they've taken her." Alex summarised with an encompassing wave of his hand.

Paulo and Li shared a glance before the Argentinean cleared his throat and spoke up.

"We will get onto that Alex but before you do anything else there is something you need to do first." He gently announced to his friend as he placed a guiding hand on his shoulder and started steering him to an empty examination room.

"I think Hex will agree with us on this one." Paulo justified as he gave Alex a final shove into the vacant soundproofed room.

Alex stumbled in from the larger teens push and was surprised when he saw Camilla receive a similar shove from Li that sent her sprawling in after him.

Hex nodded his head in consent at the proposed plan, thinking it was long overdue and best for everyone involved.

Li cut off the couples confused reactions by kicking out the doorstop,

"Sort your shit out you two, you've got some talking to do." She coarsely ordered before closing the thick door.

The thick white door slammed heavily into its recess with an ominous thud, leaving the room oppressively quiet.

* * *

><p>Camilla went to sit down on the clean white bed against the pale wall at the back of the room as Alex stood facing back at the door, rubbing the bridge of his sore nose, quietly deciding how to phrase what he wanted to say.<p>

"Sooo here we are….." he mumbled awkwardly still not facing the girl.

"And where exactly are **we** Alex?" the soft, hurting voice behind him asked, emphasising the we.

"Have things gotten so bad between us that we need our friends to lock us in a room together for us to talk?" She sighed.

Alex wheeled on his feet to face the morose girl sitting on the bed staring at her feet. He saw the one sight that men fear the most and do their uttermost to avoid. Tendrils of pain tore through him in strips when he noticed she was silently sobbing away.

In a burst of courage he strode across the room to kneel in front of her to do his best at consoling her. "Hey it's not like that Cammy," He reassured her gently taking one of her palms to run between his own. "You know we have just been caught up in this kidnapping and haven't really had a chance to be together."

The blonde sniffed briefly and looked up at him, laying the trap. "So we can talk now then? Because I feel like there is something you are keeping from me and I don't like that Alex."

Guilt crushed the boy into submission and he nodded weakly without breaking contact with her teary blue orbs.

"Yea we can talk now," He accepted, "We need to talk." He finally admitted, facing the truth that had been eating away at him.

Camilla was slightly taken back by his honest admission and let him go on.

Alex couldn't seem to find the words he wanted in the murky cloud that had filled his mind, he opened his mouth several times in attempt but finally closed it again each time in defeat.

Noticing his difficulty, the girl did what girls are often forced to do in this sort of situation and took the initiative.

"Do you want me to start?" She asked gently, squeezing his tense hand.

Alex nodded relieved and amazed, _how can this girl still be so caring even when I'm being a total jerk? _He wondered, puzzled by the enigma of women.

Taking a deep steadying breath the girl began.

"Alex you are the sweetest, bravest handsomest and most genuinely caring guy I have ever had the pleasure of being with. You are amazing and I love spending time with you even if we don't get to do it as much as we'd like."

She blushed as she realised the double entendre in what she had just said, _oh well I meant it like that too_, the girl thought coyly. Dusting the highly distracting thoughts from her head she continued.

"I thought we were really making this long distance thing work and that you truly cared about me but lately you have just been so distant that it's made me question that."

Alex grimaced at the truth and the hurt accompanying the statement.

"So I've got to ask you," She finished as her voice began to crack with emotion. "Do you still love me? What is going on? Please just talk to me." She begged, the waterworks threatening to start up again with her plea.

Alex felt like the lowest form of scum as he considered what he was going to say to her.

"You want the truth?" He asked carefully, turning it out from his tongue as if it were a dangerous thing.

Sometimes it is.

"Yes Alex! The truth!" She screamed at him, tears flowing freely, unashamed. "I think I at least deserve that." Camilla uttered bitterly.

"The truth is of course I still I love you, I'm crazy about you." Alex declared in a quiet voice, the reserved tone perfectly reflecting his unobtrusive nature.

Her outrage transformed to passion in an instant as she collapsed into him, a shaking mess.

"But that's the problem," he continued as he smoothed her hair beside his shoulder. "You dazzle me, you blind me, you muddy the waters in my head. Dammit I can't think straight when you're near girl."

Camilla created some space so she could meet his face at this change in his tone.

"You seem to occupy more space in my mind then anything rightfully should and I feel physically weak when I'm around you, like I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you." He carried on his tone laced with frustration, almost anger as his eyes found somewhere else to inhabit.

"How can I be considering my safety or that of anyone else's when I'm so fixed on yours?" He demanded, ranging the sickly sterility of his surrounding white walls.

Her soft hand found his chin and pulled him back to face her, "But baby that's part of love. You think I don't feel the same?" she whispered trying to put his restless spirit at ease.

"It's all pretty new to me," Alex confessed still not meeting her intense eyes, "I'm supposed to be our survival expert but this is a strange environment to me that I don't know how to survive in."

"We've been surviving alright up until now." Camilla pointed out raising an eyebrow and willing the teen to look at her.

"Maybe we have," Alex conceded, finally meeting her eyes, "But I'm not and Alpha Force isn't. I feel weak, always weak, I've trained harder and harder thinking maybe if I was stronger or faster I could cope with this, but I can't." He buried his face in his hands as he poured forth his shame.

Alex's sudden bulk up over the summer made sense to the girl as she cradled an arm around his shoulder and pulled him into her body. Not that she had been complaining, mind you.

"Alpha Force is striking out now too and that's my fault as well." The broken teen dejectedly elaborated, with his face still shielded.

Camilla was shocked at this new attitude and dug her heels in to try and reassure him.

"Alex you are the strongest person in the group already, you've had to be their pillar of strength for so long. You're the one everyone looks to for the answers, for the hard decisions, for someone to trust. Alex, you are the one they look to for inspiration, for courage when the goings tough, because you are always able to keep going. You are definitely not weak and it's not all your fault a couple of problems have arisen with this mission."

Alex brushed away her comfort, like he was batting at mosquitos and shook his head. "You said it yourself, I'm the one they trust for the decisions but I've made pretty piss poor ones lately because I just haven't been able to think straight." He mumbled miserably.

Camilla stood as if she had been slapped by the rebuff and she had to be content with standing near the agitated teen, unsure of what to do with her arms. Her tears had deserted her when she felt like she really needed them.

"I can't afford anymore distraction if we are to rescue Amber," He explained in a sombre tone, "and I need to be strong if I am going to get everyone through this alive."

Camilla's heart felt very fragile, clasped in his hands as she anticipated his next move.

"And that's why we can't be together anymore." He concluded sadly meeting her eyes and shining his hurt to mirror hers.

"But we love each other?" she whimpered as she pushed past his stony defences and into his body.

With an aching sadness and more self-control then he ever thought he possessed, Alex turned his head to aside and gently parried the oncoming lips. Going for the Hail Mary, Camilla lunged again desperate to meet his lips; certain that her kiss would make him reconsider. Something small and hollow inside of her was crushed as he defended her advances again.

Tears were intermingled with tears as he managed to trap her face beside his instead and hold her as she sobbed and struggled in his arms. The pain in his stabbed arm was nothing compared to what he was feeling as he finished what had been the hardest thing he had ever done.

In a flare of anger the old, tough Camilla was back, pushing against the restraining arms like a wildcat. She broke his weakened grip easily and stepped back to face him, her beautiful face an image of feminine fury.

"What about me?" she exploded, "And how I feel huh? You expect me to just walk away?" The epicentre of her rage broke over his defeated face demanding an answer.

"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not the safest guy to be around. Maybe it's best if you do." Alex quietly suggested in a lacklustre attempt to hide his true feelings.

"Did I ever say I wanted safe?" Camilla hissed cruelly as she finally managed to overpower him with a tackle that drove them both to the floor.

The weakness seemed to claim Alex with her close proximity as the determined girl sat astride him and finally found her way through his defences and onto his lips.

A spark of energy seemed to enliven him from the breathtaking touch and restore his stolen strength but he still surrendered to the kiss he had been resisting and resenting. Lightening split between the two as they parted for much needed air and Alex felt like he had awoken for the first time. The girl on top of him seemed new yet familiar, a sadder damaged version that he felt compelled to repair.

"I'm sorry," he gasped before taking the plunge again and finding the second time no less invigorating then the first.

"Just don't try dump me again." She mumbled still sounding injured through her hastened breaths.

He managed to slip his tongue out of her sweet moist mouth to find some closure with the issue. He placed one hand on her heaving chest and gently pushed her back while his other cradled her hip in support. Having pushed her back to a straddled seat on his abdomen, he found her eyes.

"I mean it about the distraction and weakness." Alex scowled his face hardening as he tried to get a rational word in. "If we are still going to do this I need you to stay behind when I ask." He finished edging an eyebrow and looking expectantly at girl astride him.

Camilla opened her eyes from the passion that enthralled her to send him a barbed stare.

"At least until I can learn to survive in this new environment?" He pleaded with earnest eyes.

"Fine, but don't think you can keep me out of the action in your life forever, because someday we will be stronger because we are together." She assured Alex before switching personality in an instant to tease by sliding her lovely weight further down on him.

His involuntary muscular response and shiver lit a fire somewhere inside of the girl.

"Now lets see if we can find some way to manage this distraction problem you are having….." She decided pseudo-firmly, raising an eyebrow and sliding a hand under his shirt suggestively.

Alex watched in drawn out pleasure and anticipation as her other hand slowly reached down to lift the edge of her singlet above her head.

He quickly agreed with the sultry blonde on top of him as she leant forward.

"I'm sure we can think of something."


	19. Chapter 19

Li gave a wink to Paulo, who in turn clapped Hex on the shoulder.

"Those two needed to talk badly." He explained extravagantly with a flick of his head back to their imprisoned friends.

"Jeez tell me about it!" Hex replied with a roll of his eyes.

"Pffff look who's talking?" Li snorted in amusement at her hopeless friend.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Hex spluttered, caught off guard.

"Really _amigo_?" Paulo sighed despondently, "You are going to try and play dumb with us, like we don't see you two together?"

"Do we have to lock you and Amber in a room together, like these two, just to get a result?" Li asked menacingly casual.

Hex was wary of Li's warning, knowing full well she would follow through and that Paulo would happily help her.

"I'll get the prisoner" He suggested quickly changing the subject, "Paulo can you talk to the Doc and sort us a room?"

Paulo cracked a grin at the sly deference but disappeared to find the doctor from earlier all the same. Li wore a similar look but lead Hex out to where they had parked the car.

The key slid smoothly into its receptacle in the hatch of the boot and Li carefully rotated it. The hinge creaked open revealing the filthy, sweaty man they had put in there earlier that evening. His eyes widened first in fear as he saw the Asian girl opening the boot and then cringed in confusion at the new boy he didn't recognise. Li used her intimidation factor to its maximum and waved a hand at him.

"Miguel meet Hex, Hex this is Miguel." She introduced with a nasty grin.

Miguel felt his body seize involuntarily in pure terror.

_Did she just say Hex? _His mind screamed, _as in the Hex Amber was always yapping on about around the mansion? Amber's Hex? _

A less then friendly smile crept across the teens face as he noticed their captor starting to freak out.

_Oh shit! _The former gardener concluded _I am really in for it now. _

For some reason the pale spiky haired kid scared him a hell of a lot more then the Chinese girl who had already thrashed him once. There was something a lot more personal about his hate that made it all the more terrifying. This was further reinforced as he reached in his two strong hands and roughly dragged the man from the boot of the car. The frightened criminal struggled from his grip as he was dumped unceremoniously on the hard tarseal of the car park.

Hex gripped him under one arm as Li brought up the other and whispered threateningly in Miguel's ear.

"We are taking you into the hospital now. If make a scene or try and escape Hex here has got free reign to stop you however he wishes."

Fear dilated his pupils as his mind ran through all the possible scenarios and he managed to nod feebly.

They frog marched him through the front door of the emergency department and into a special room that Paulo was holding the door open to. Beside him stood the doctor from earlier who had just had the situation explained to him and had kindly offered up the room that was usually reserved for the psychiatric or aggressive patients.

It was sound proofed, able to be locked from the outside and the viewing window was able to covered by flat metal blinds for safety and privacy. Li and Hex dumped the man on the narrow white bed that stood centrepiece and left the room, locking the door behind them with a distinctive click. Nurses and doctors carried on about their business showing no interest in what they considered was just another crazy patient brought in for the night and awaiting a psych assessment.

* * *

><p>"He can't do much while he is in there." The doctor declared looking at the three tense teens, "If you want to have a stern talk to him noone will hear it or ask any questions." He assured them with a knowing wink.<p>

"Funny you mention it because that is exactly what I would like to do." Hex growled through clenched teeth, his knuckles white on the door handle.

"We should probably wait for Alex I think _hombre._" Paulo suggested resting a large hand flat on the door to prevent Hex from opening it.

A frustrated Hex nodded bitterly before releasing the handle, "He could bloody well hurry up then." He mumbled moodily.

"Some things you can't rush," Li sagely replied, "especially when the hearts involved."

A meaningful look passed between her and Paulo at the comment, which was only broken by the doctor beside them.

"Shit speaking of hearts, I've got a guy back in resus who has had a massive heart attack that I had better get back to. If you kids need anything just come find me or ask one of the nurses."

He strode off down the corridor pulling on a fresh set of latex gloves.

"What you could do while we are waiting is check Amber's tracker _amigo." _Paulo suggested.

Hex could have kicked himself for not thinking of such an obvious solution earlier. He quickly drew his palmtop from its protective case and fired up the application he had installed to follow the tracking signals. He had bolstered the receiving capability by stealthily feeding its detection software through the US military satellites so that it now had a far greater receiving range.

As he connected with these remote satellites a map of the city began to magnify as it locked onto the signal. A wide picture of the city became a map of a suburb, which became a block by the waterfront. It narrowed further to a block of familiar looking industrial warehouses by the waterfront. Excited to find a location for his friend he switched the view from street/topographical map across to a real-time view.

His small screen was engulfed with flames as an overhead view of the towering inferno flashed up on screen.

Hex jumped back in shock.

This was the fire Paulo and he had started and now the tracking system was saying that Amber was somewhere near there. His insides felt like sand caught in a harsh wind, blowing away as he had to consider the dark thought of whether she had been there when they lit the blaze.

"What is it Hex?" Li asked noticing his ashen appearance.

"Her tracker says that she's back at the burning warehouse and it's not moving." He slowly answered struggling to hold it together.

"But does that mean that she's…?" Paulo slowly turned over trying to comprehend.

"No!" Li insisted, "It can't be, she called us and they wouldn't kill her before getting their ransom anyway."

Common sense agreed with Li but Hex still couldn't shake the picture the information in his hands painted for him.

Seeing his friend was unconvinced, Paulo punched him affectionately in the arm, "Come on let's not jump to any conclusions here okay, Li's right this guy is after money so it's very unlikely he's done anything to her."

Hearing it from someone else replanted the stem of hope in Hex's mind and he visibly relaxed.

"Yea they could have taken it off her or it might have came off during a struggle." He justified hopefully, receiving an encouraging smile from Li.

"Lets wait for Alex to get back and see what he makes of this new development." Paulo suggested, seeing the yearning in his friend to run to the car and check out the warehouse already.

As if he had heard him, the door to Alex and Camilla's room opened up.

* * *

><p>A tense silence hung in the air as the couple approached the rest of the group looking slightly flustered. The evidence of their argument and her make up hung in the dried tracks from the corners of their eyes and the still draining colour from their faces.<p>

Alex looked completely wrecked but had to take the initiative and clear his throat loudly before his friends scrutiny fell to closely upon the pair of them.

"I owe you all an apology." He announced breaking the group's solace.

"Heck Alex I owe you one too, I'm sorry I hit you." Hex relented, his guilt having manifested while he awaited their return and brought about fresh by the swelling that was starting to build around Alex's nose. _Damn I might have broken my mates nose _he realised in shame.

Alex traced the swollen ridge of his nose unconsciously, as he laughed in relief glad his friend was remorseful.

"Ah well I felt like I probably deserved it anyway." He admitted as he clapped Hex on the shoulder to let him know there were no hard feelings. The throbbing pain in his nose now served as a reminder to him to keep his focus.

"So you two are good? Got your shit sorted out?" Li asked suspiciously stepping forward and looking from the quiet Camilla to the sandy haired youth beside her.

The couple's gaze met and held in an intimate sharing of thoughts, it was still complicated between them but for the moment they had reached an agreement of sorts.

"Yeah we're good Li." Camilla assured the girl and Alex silently concurred, nodding his head.

"Yeah I bet they are good." Hex muttered pointedly to Paulo beaming him a sly look and gesturing towards them with a tilt of his head.

Paulo followed his friend's sneaky indication and after looking closer at the pair he saw what Hex had wanted him to see.

The laugh caught in his throat and he quickly turned it into a hushed snigger, which Hex joined him in mirth. The hacker raised a fist for Paulo to knock his knuckles lightly against before the two straightened their expressions. Standing straight faced beside his friend, Paulo couldn't help but stare at the anomaly that had been pointed out to him that gave away the couple.

He smiled in appreciation; _trust our resident code-breaker to notice something so small like the fact that the top Camilla's wearing is now inside-out. _

Remembering why they were waiting for Alex, Hex's face darkened again and he rudely cut through the conversation his friend was having with Li.

"If you ladies are done talking, can we either question this scumbag already or get down to docks?" He indicated the locked room to their left with a jerk of his head.

Alex stepped past Li all business now, "Yeah definitely, sorry." He mumbled embarrassed, having been filled in on the new development by Li.

Drawing his height and considering his friends, he made the call on who was doing the questioning.

"Hex, Li and myself will go in and have a chat to him." He decided firmly, confident in his choices. He wanted the intimidation factor provided by Hex, the fear that Li put in the man and he wanted to be there himself to rein both of them in from going overboard. _Good cop, Bad cop and one quite Scary cop, _he thought with a wry grin. Part of his choice was also because he wasn't sure how far they would have to go to get answers but he knew that both of his friends would do absolutely whatever it took to get the answer from this man. Another consideration he made was that he didn't want to expose his other two more sensitive friends to that sort of emotional burden.

"Why don't you guys check out the tracer at the docks?" He suggested to Camilla and Paulo.

The pair nodded, not dejected at all from being left out of the interrogation. Secretly both felt a little bit nervous about what their friends would be prepared to do to get an answer from their prisoner. They were relieved to still receive a useful task though and they quickly departed.

Hex was both surprised and impressed to notice that Alex's eyes didn't drift to watch his girl leave and instead stayed rock steady on his two interrogators.

Alex held a hand up to stop the pair as they started towards the room. "Wait." He ordered.

Li and Hex turned to him in confusion noticing the change in his demeanour.

"Before we go in there I need to make sure we are all on the same page. We need to present a united front in there and maintain self control if we are going to get anything out of this guy." He explained

"We are with you on this one Alex." Li assured him, drawing a nod from Hex as well.

Alex nodded his head in acknowledgement and continued. "This guy seems to know quite a bit about how things are run, they have kept him pretty involved so we need to play this one well. It might be our only shot and we can't back down on this one so we might have to get a little physical."

"I'll do whatever it takes." Hex promised, his eyes sinister and his face an unreadable mask.

Content with his choice, Alex turned and led the pair through the heavy door.


	20. Chapter 20

Miguel sprung off the bed as if it was on fire when he saw the first teen enter, the wiry blond one with the arm in a sling. _I could take him _Miguel thought cockily. His confidence wavered as he saw the terrifying Chinese girl with the long back hair follow him; her cool eyes calmly surveyed him. The final addition to the room frightened him the most, it was the big guy with the spiky hair, who he was pretty sure was Amber's boyfriend. The teen had a quiet angry vibe that set off Miguel's radar and seriously spooked him.

His guard was instantly up as they approached him and he became acutely aware of his bound hands that prevented him from defending himself.

"Take a seat, we need to talk." Alex offered calmly waving back towards the bed the man had just left.

"Screw your seat, man!" The captive refused with a snap. "And screw you psycho kids, I ain't talking to you about shit."

Hex replied for Alex in a hard voice that left little room for negotiation, "He wasn't asking."

Both Li and Hex stepped forward menacingly and Miguel's eyes bounced suspiciously between the two of them.

"Stay the hell away from me," He warned backing up further till his back was up against the bed again.

"Last chance, sit down or we put you down." Alex calmly informed the frenzied man.

Miguel however had worked himself up into such a state he wasn't even listening and instead manically bolted for the closed door. Unfortunately for him Li and Hex directly blocked that route.

It was over in a second as Li stepped in close to the man, stepped a leg deep past him before sweeping it backwards and driving with her hands. The solid sweep caught both of Miguel's at the same time his balance was broken by her hands. The result was that his legs were smashed forward from under him at the time is chest was pushed backwards and into the ground. The Osoto Guruma or major, outside wheeling throw effectively stopped the man in his tracks and drove the fight out of him with a concussive impact with the ground.

With the wind and energy knocked out of him, Hex and Li dragged the gasping attempted escapee to his feet before roughly throwing him back onto the bed. Taking advantage of his temporary subdued state the two slid up the high guardrails of the bed designed for stopping patients from falling out. Li then withdrew another cable tie from her pocket and leashed the already bound hands above his head to the headboard of the bed. Hex bound each ankle to the guardrail on its side with the other two strips of plastic that she passed to him, before dropping the rails down again flush with the bed as the became obsolete in containing the man.

Stepping back to admire their handy work, they added the finishing touch of sitting up the head end of the bed so that their restrained captive was now sitting and could clearly see them.

"He's using." Hex declared to his friends nodding at the bound man.

"What?" Li asked puzzled.

"He's an IV drug user and he's probably high right now." Hex elaborated shortly.

"Hex is right," Alex concluded, "I noticed drugs at his flat earlier and check out his pinpoint pupils. Also if you look at his arms." He explained straightening a restraining arm, "You will notice the scarring from needles."

"Track marks right?" Li checked with the boys who confirmed her terminology with a nod each.

Alex nodded to his friends in approval and started again on the questioning, "We need information from you Miguel, how you give it to us is up to you. You've probably already guessed we aren't quite as we seem and know that we will get what we need one way or another."

A stream of curses was the only response he received and with a sigh Alex turned to Hex and nodded. Noting their prearranged signal, Hex centred himself with a deep breath and let his anger at the man on the bed generate the force for his punch. His solid cross smashed into the bound Latinos abdomen with a dull smack and a groan of pain from the recipient.

"Thank you Hex," Alex quietly said before asking his first question.

"Your boss has got Amber what would he have done with her?"

Despite his throbbing stomach, the news brought a grin to Miguel's twisted face.

"Oh good, bitch got what was coming." He crowed cruelly.

Alex didn't even have to give the nod this time as Hex launched in and smashed one of his large fists into the prisoner's repeatedly broken nose. The deformed, almost inverted mass started bleeding again and Hex wiped the blood off his fist on the beds sheet in disgust.

"Okay okay call off her psycho-ass boyfriend and I'll tell you something." Miguel bargained sending small mists of blood onto his already soaked clothes with each word.

Hex stepped back barely keeping his cool and giving the captive a chance to talk.

The bound man continued to eye him wearily as Alex waved his hand in a gesture encouraging him to go on.

"Ivanovich will be holding her until she can transfer the ransom in a couple of days."

Hex hissed just one word as his hand closed on the prisoners shoulder.

"Where?"

"Shit man I can't tell you that!" Miguel protested and the iron grip on his shoulder tightened, "You don't know the boss, he would have me skinned alive when he found out."

"Not good enough." Alex decided firmly, looking pale and sweating heavily. "We need to know Miguel."

The man was resolute though, the fear evident in his wide eyes. "No way, I've already said too much, they could kill me for this."

Alex nodded weakly at Li who responded by walking up and savagely punched their captive in his fractured collar bone. Broken bone endings flexed under her swift blow and drew a pained scream from the injured man.

Fighting to level his breathing again the restrained latino flashed a dark look across each of the teens in the room before finally focusing on Alex.

"I don't know who you crazy fucking kids think you are. You can beat me all you want but I know Ivanovich will murder me if he finds out I've talked."

"What makes you think we won't?" Hex asked the man with dark unreadable eyes that perfectly reflected his tone.

Miguel spat blood at the boy defiantly.

"Go ahead then, but I ain't saying shit. He would have some far more painful way to kill me anyway."

Before Hex could make good on his threat and beat the stubborn man to death, Alex gave his friends a nod and headed for the door. Li and Hex followed him out, the latter reluctant to leave their captive unmolested for his trouble.

In the blank hallway once more, Alex turned on his friends with his teeth gritted in frustration. He felt like shit, nausea was creeping in his stomach and his arm was starting to hurt again.

"This piece of shit knows where Amber has been taken but he doesn't want to talk to us right?"

Li and Hex confirmed Alex's assessment of the situation with a quick nod.

"So how do we get him to spill the beans guys? We are running out of time here." Alex asked, opening the question to the floor. He hoped the others had a solution because he had just felt so wiped out in the room and could really use some answers.

"The problem as I see it," Li evaluated, "Is that he's more afraid of his boss then he is of us."

"It is a slippery slope we descend when we start exploring that side of things guys." Alex admitted with a serious expression on his drawn face. "We need to decide together just how far we are willing to go to get that information."

Hex's unreadable face hadn't changed since he had threatened Miguel and his answer to Alex came without hesitation.

"As far as it takes to get Amber back." He declared in a calm low voice.

Li nodded her head in grim acceptance whipping her silken ribbon of black hair, "She would do the same for any of us." The Anglo-Chinese girl concluded.

With the friends standing together at the crossroads, Alex put the solution to the floor.

"Alright so any ideas how we get him to talk then?"

Hex's mind was delving into darker places and considering possibilities while his gaze in the meantime was trawling the corridor. It finally settled on the crash trolley parked up against the wall and given the circumstances his serious face split into a small smile.

"I might have an idea, it is pretty extreme though." He admitted, raising an eyebrow in warning.

"Mate, at this point I'm open to anything." Alex answered, imploring him to continue and ignoring the twinge of pain in his arm.

In response Hex walked over to the small silver trolley parked up in a small alcove in the wall. Alex had watched enough episodes of Mercy with his mother to know that the crash trolley was used for when patients went into cardiac arrest and required lifesaving intervention. A stout looking machine sat centrepiece looking like a miniature TV with a series of buttons lining either side of the screen and a small wheel inset into the bottom right corner and facing the viewer. The monitor had thick cables running off various points of its face to sit coiled in zip up pouches on the side of the device. The plastic housing for the whole thing was a dulled white, like the rest of the hospital and the whole thing was topped off by a sturdy carrying handle.

A small warning was etched in red along the bottom of the device.

WARNING- For use by trained personnel only, device delivers powerful electric shocks.

Seeing the potential in Hex's plan, Alex decided to flesh out the idea a bit more to see if it could work.

"Can you use one of those things Hex?" He asked suspiciously, feeling his pulse racing beneath his skin and causing his arm to throb.

Hex already had an electronic version of the manual pulled up on his palmtop and was furiously scrolling down when Alex posed his question.

"It's called a defibrillator Alex and if you give me two minutes I can be using it like a pro." He assured his friend.

Standing directly in front of Alex Li suddenly became aware of a soft pitter-pattering noise. Looking around for the source of the sound her eyes caught in serious realisation at the small trail of blood that had followed them out of the room. Tracing the small trail back to its source she gazed in horror at the blood-soaked underside of Alex's bandaged arm.

A steady stream of drops was falling from the drenched dressing to beat a red rhythm on the contrasting white hospital floor. A growing puddle of crimson was at Alex's side and he hadn't seemed to notice in his discussion with Hex.

Alex himself was looking exhausted, like a teen that had recently engaged in some strenuous activity that had worn him out. His skin was as white as the walls, almost mottled in appearance, a dull sheen from the lights showed how sweaty he was despite the occasional shiver.

Li finally managed to overcome the freeze that often came with a shocking sight.

"Alex your arm!" She exclaimed


	21. Chapter 21

Noting something was wrong by Li's distressed tone, Alex looked down at his scarlet arm.

His face, if it was possible, lost more colour.

"Damn," he croaked hurriedly turning the handle on his makeshift tourniquet to stop the steady trickle of blood.

Hex's head flicked up from his small screen to focus his intense gaze on Alex as the teen grimaced while he tightened the band around his arm until the dripping stopped.

Alex looked just as shocked as his friends at the life that had dripped out his arm and it was a moment before anyone spoke.

"Alex go find the Dr. you need to get someone to have a look at your arm." Li ordered, assuming responsibility for her friend.

"But I…. We were just going to…" Alex stammered, resisting her efforts to turn him to face the direction the friendly doctor had left.

"Not a chance mate," Hex backed Li up, "We will handle this you need to get your arm seen to."

Alex seethed in frustration at his injury that had slowed him down the whole mission and left everyone questioning his ability. At the same time though his strong instincts to survive slipped through his stubbornness to agree with his friends. Clinically he was showing increasing signs of shock and his bleeding was becoming more difficult to control; he required higher medical aid then his friends could provide.

"Okay," He finally relented, deciding that it was foolhardy for him to continue in his compromised state.

His light-headedness had been steadily increasing since the injury and he secretly welcomed the opportunity to step out of the mission for a little while to have his injury addressed. Still, the deontological part of him felt as though it was abandonment of his post, in his mind this was him letting down the team when they needed him most.

Noticing the conflicted emotions running across his friends face, Hex sought to reassure him that the job would still get done without him.

"Don't worry Alex we will find out where Amber is, whatever it takes." He promised as Alex finally left to find the Dr.

"Whatever it takes." He repeated to himself in a dark mantra.

* * *

><p>Fire engines were just leaving the scene and passed Paulo and Camilla as the drove in the opposite lane. They parked the BMW around the corner from the warehouse complex, determined that they should continue on foot to reduce the chance of them being spotted. Quietly the pair started walking towards the warehouses, Camilla held the tracking device in her hand like a large cellphone.<p>

They would have liked to take Hex's palmtop with its more accurate program but they were refused the request by the testy hacker.

According to him Paulo was not to be trusted with this treasured piece of equipment, apparently there was a past incident during a mission where some less then reputable websites were discovered in the browser history after he last used it. Paulo of course, denied all charges laid against him and swore on his tool kit that he was doing research for a possible human trafficking operation.

This argument however failed to explain why he had been required to examine fifteen different questionable adult sites and watch over three gigabytes of streamed video.

On Camilla's handset the blinking dot that represented Amber's tracer was still some distance away and the background noise was dulled by the distant crash of waves. The choking scent of smoke still hung heavily in the air and wafts of it could still be witnessed escaping from the charred skeletal remains of the warehouse complex.

"You good?" Paulo asked softly, breaking the focused woman's concentration.

She looked up in surprise at the burly South American, his usual cocky grin was not present instead it was substituted for a more thoughtful expression.

Anyone who didn't Paulo would find it quite an unusual expression that was out of place on his face, considering his more confident, laid back attitude. His close friends however knew him to be an intelligent, caring teen who's laid back style often gave him a lot more time to think and consider ideas. It was for this reason that the easy going Paulo made such a good medic and mechanic.

"Yea I am now." She decided, her mind more at peace now, "and thank you for before, I think we needed that time shut away together."

Paulo had to turn away to hide his giggle at her choice of words and was barely able to mumble back. "Yea I bet you did."

Suspicion and embarrassment raced into the girls face. _I'm certain the blinds were closed and I'm pretty sure the room was soundproofed_, She reassured herself.

Internally she grimaced at the idea that they weren't and she hazarded a timid glance at Paulo again. The cowboy grin lit his face once more but that was hardly unusual for him. However this time a small hint of coy knowing hid in a corner of his smile, representing the secret discovery he and Hex had shared earlier.

The smile suddenly vanished from his face like a TV cutting across to static and the teen stopped in place. Camilla halted beside him and awaited his cue as to what was wrong.

* * *

><p>"Over there," he pointed grimly to a small clearing just off from the the newly returned shadows a dark mass lay, a flicker of light from the overhead street lamp had been enough to alert the boy to its presence. Carefully the pair approached the dark prone shape where it lay on the cold concrete.<p>

Feeling his boots stick on the ground, Paulo bent over to touch two fingers into the mess that he had stepped in. Paulo carefully lifted his hand to rub the substance slowly between his finger and thumb, a thick globular solution rolled back and forth in his grip. Small hard grits marred the consistency of the substance as they tumbled on his fingertips and he felt compelled to further raise his hand to smell the mysterious solution.

The iron tang of blood assaulted his nose straight away and caused him to instinctively draw his head away from the bitter odour. It was then that the light flickered again above their heads and for a second, illuminated the corpse at his feet.

Camilla jumped back on reflex from the dead body while Paulo felt morbidly compelled to investigate further.

The broken second of light had revealed to him grotesque injuries that were not conducive with life and as his night vision returned he was able to reaffirm this initial assessment. The body lay facedown in a foul puddle; a stew of blood, brain, bone and cerebrospinal fluid. Reflecting on his soiled fingers as he wiped them on the corpses trousers, he concluded that the gritty lumps he had felt were probably fragments of the unfortunate man's skull.

From what he could see, a large open wound was present in the back of the bodies head where a bullet had exited, the kinetic energy was so great that it had punched out a whole as big as Paulo's fist. His sad, curious eyes could see right inside of the corpses skull and were witness to the clotting soup that was all that remained of a brain.

Tearing his eyes from the gruesome sight with a dry retch kicking in his throat, Paulo tried to search out Camilla in the darkness. He finally spotted her off to the side a few metres away looking extremely pale in the bare moonlight.

"There's another one here." She told him in a shaky voice that struggled to hold onto words as she gestured to her discovery.

The girl was right, a second corpse lay not far from first, again another male. The fact that neither was Amber sent little thrills of relief and joy skyrocketing up Paulo's spine.

This body was face up and with a shock of surprise Paulo realised he recognised this victim.

The heavy face was unmistakeable in its frozen tableau with the small dark hole in the forehead. It was one of the guards that Paulo had rendered unconscious at the warehouse with his stun gun. The two small burns his fingers brushed over, as he carefully examined the dead mans neck, proved further evidence of this.

Stepping back from the dead bodies he gathered up the stricken girl from the shadows and turned to survey the scene as a whole while the pieces slid into place. The pair took in the clear view of the warehouse as Paulo considered the proximity to the road and it's somewhat secluded location. _Could Ivanovich have killed his own men when he came over and saw what had happened?_ A small voice in his head seemed to agree with this theory and served to remind him what a dangerous individual they were dealing with.

Camilla and Paulo gratefully left the dead to their eternal rest and stealthily approached the skeletal warehouse remains, following Amber's signal.

The blacked bones and support structure were all that remained of the once mighty collection of buildings. Carefully avoiding the lingering police officers and firemen they made their way around the wreckage examining the remains. It took only five minutes of hard searching for the pair to conclude that there was nothing remotely resembling human remains among the debris.

It was just as they were leaving that Camilla spotted the tarnished gleam of the scorched necklace on the outskirts of a blackened building. The rugged transmitter was still bravely broadcasting its signal even as its shockproof titanium coating was seared off. The heavy-duty transponders had been designed to survive under any conditions applied to it and apparently that included towering infernos.

Paulo shook his head in admiration at the hardy little piece of technology before sending a txt with the good news to the others.

* * *

><p>The owner of the lost transmitter was feeing a lot less hardy at the moment.<p>

Amber sat with her skinny wrists cable-tied to a heavy metal chair in a bleak cement block room. She barely remembered being dragged into the barren incomplete structure she now resided, time seemed a relative thing and while the process had taken bare minutes she felt as though hours had passed since then.

Flickering memories of rebar, concrete mixers and unfinished walls strayed into her mind.

The disjointed nature of her thoughts jogged far more distant memories, before the Phoenix, before Alpha Force, before Hex. Cold, bleak memories of a darker time in her life when she was sullen with grief, refusing to leave her bed, refusing to eat. All thoughts of wellbeing or carrying on alone discarded.

Doing nothing but dwelling on her loss.

In her spiral of despair she simply didn't eat and her body waned as a result. It also caused her episodes of Hypoglycemia where her blood sugar dropped dangerously low and required her hospitalisation. Hypoglycemia didn't explain her current sluggish mental state however, since she was much better at managing her diabetes now and had kept up with both her medications and her meals lately.

It was at this point in her rationalisation that the faint sting in her neck invaded her thoughts. _Drugs!_ She realised, _whatever they pumped me full of they must not be quite out of my system yet._

Groggily she scanned the room, it was relatively bare containing only the chair she was currently bound to and the guard who stood impassively at the door. Snatches of memory flashed back at her as she struggled to remember being brought into her current cell. Snapshots of drywall, of abandoned tools and machinery fought through the fog in her head. An incomplete structure inset itself as a background in her head as she vaguely remembered getting a glimpse of the forgotten building as she was forced inside.

The effort of remembering proved too much for Amber though and her vision spun out as her head was consumed by the stretching shadows of unconsciousness once more.


	22. Chapter 22

"Sharp scratch" the nurse warned as she plunged an intravenous cannula into a vein in Alex's uninjured forearm.

Alex winced and turned away as the flashback of blood pooled into the cannulas chamber and the needle itself was withdrawn, replaced by an orange Teflon sheathed catheter instead. His eyes were drawn back by curiosity to watch as a small leur plug was attached to the end of the cannula and a ten ml syringe screwed into place. A crimson ribbon danced into the syringe from the leur as the nurse drew back on the plunger to confirm placement within the vein. Happy with its placement, the skilled woman pushed through the saline flush before securing the line with tape and a special transparent sticker.

Alex was fascinated by the process and also amazed at how quickly things had happened since he had found the doctor.

The emergency department doctor was surprised to say the least when the teen staggered up to him asking for an examination. From the boy's appearance he had obviously lost a significant amount of blood and was fairly close to losing consciousness. Working quickly, he had found the reluctant teen a bed and ordered whole blood for an immediate transfusion while he assessed the wound responsible for all the trouble.

The doctor was shocked to find a makeshift tourniquet in place but he left it on as it was managing the bleed while he unwrapped the bandages. It was with a heavy heart that he informed his new patient that the arm would require vascular surgery to properly repair the laceration. Alex sunk into the bed at the news, finally realising how serious the stab wound was and docilely accepting the intravenous volume replacement without complaint.

As nurses and care associates buzzed around him attaching probes and monitors he felt his pocket come to life with the vibrating of his phone. Brushing off some pinching probe attached to his finger, he retrieved the mobile from his pocket to note that the txt was from Paulo. The good news from his friend sent a rush of adrenaline through him, causing a reciprocal spike in his heart rate that made the nurses fuss. Alex looked up from the message.

The doctor was busy re-bandaging his arm before transport to the operating theatre

"Can I get this to go?" Alex asked gesturing to the hanging bags of blood and crystalloid solution beside his head.

* * *

><p>"Are you ready to do this?" Hex confirmed with Li as he quietly rolled the silver crash trolley over to the door of the makeshift cell.<p>

Li took a deep breath and filled her mind with images of her best friend, "Yea I'm ready." She decided.

Hex saw the hesitation and asked again "Are you sure? I can probably do this on my own if you want to sit this one out Li."

Rising to the challenge Li shook her head fiercely, "No. I can't let you do this alone, we share the burden."

Hex nodded in appreciation, "Okay your decision." And he pushed through the door.

Miguel looked up suspiciously at the cart being wheeled into his room and the two teens that accompanied it.

"What the hell is that?" He demanded of Hex as the hacker wheeled the trolley close and turned on the machine it carried.

"Lets just say it's our very own polygraph." Hex sneered at him sarcastically; switching the device across from it's automated setting to manual operation.

"This is a defibrillator," Li patiently explained, "It's used to deliver powerful electric shocks to reset life-threatening chaotic heart rhythms. You've probably seen it on TV they use the two great big paddles that always seem to bring people back to life."

Miguel's face twisted in confusion, not quite understanding why they had brought it in with them.

Hex cut in over her explanation, "These days however they don't use paddles anymore, instead they use these," He held up two large adhesive pads for the man to see, wires snaked back from the rectangular stickers to the machine.

"Now as you can see from the pictures on the back of these stickers, one is supposed to go here," he tapped Miguel on the right hand side of his chest. "And the other should go here," this time he lightly patted his captives lower ribs on the left hand side.

Miguel was distracted from the tapping and patting by the activity of the other teen. Li had taken a pair of scissors from the trolley especially designed for cutting through clothing and she had started cutting straight up the hem of his jean legs.

"Hey what are you doing?" Miguel protested as Li ignored him, finished cutting the first trouser leg all the way up to the hip and started on the second leg.

He turned back to Hex to try and gain some sort of understanding about what these crazy kids were doing.

The teen's face was unrelenting and gave no clue to his intent. "The biphasic shock is delivered through the two pads and follows the most direct path between them to reset the hearts polarity." He recited from the manual.

The information seemed obscure until he peeled back the plastic backing on one of the defibrillator pads and slapped it onto the exposed flesh of Miguel's thigh.

Miguel gasped as the cold conductive gel on the pad firmly adhered to his flesh and he almost missed Hex's next words.

"So where will the electricity go if we stick one pad here and another here?" He punctuated the last word by pressing the second pad onto Miguel's other bare thigh.

* * *

><p>Comprehension finally dawned in their captive's eyes and the colour drained from his stained face.<p>

"You couldn't…. You.. wouldn't." He stammered the words struggling to find the surface.

"Not if you tell us where they've taken Amber." Li offered quietly.

"No I can't!" He protested forgetting all about his present danger.

Hex sighed heavily, "Ah well we gave you a chance, I think we will start with just 100 joules."

His dexterous fingers rotated the wheel at the bottom til the energy selection sat at his desired joule setting.

"Here we go," He stated harshly, "Stand clear," he warned Li as he pressed the button labelled **CHARGE**.

Li took a step back as a loud whirring emanated from the machine, Miguel's struggles got wilder as the sound got louder. With the charge drawn up the whirring was relaced by harsh ringing klaxons and a single button began flashing on the face of the monitor.

The button read **SHOCK.**

Seemingly unaffected by the unnerving noise, Hex slowly extended a finger and advanced it towards the button.

"Wait, wait I'll talk," The man insisted in panic, his cries having frozen the deft digit mere centimetres from the ominous button.

"You'll talk to us?" Hex confirmed with a hard look.

"Yes, for the love of god just don't electrocute me." Miguel pleaded, his face drawn in desperation.

Hex's paused finger instead slid over to depress the wheel, dumping the charge back into the internal hardware and silencing the klaxons.

"Talk." He ordered firmly, focusing all his attention on his captive.

"Okay okay, for the kidnappings Taken Inc uses these old warehouses by the docks to hold people until their ransom comes through."

Hex was about to stop the babbling prisoner but he let the man keep going instead.

"The boss leaves a few thugs there to guard the prisoner and then when the payments gone through they kill the guy and dump his body out deep where noone is going to go looking."

Li frowned at the new development; to her it confirmed their belief that the chance of getting a hostage back after paying was nonexistent.

"We already know about the warehouses Miguel." Hex hissed dangerously, "She wasn't there, I know because I personally burnt them down an hour ago."

The bound man gulped with a newly heightened fear as he realised that the kids he was talking to were good enough to have gotten past their security and started a fire. It made the intense teen facing him seen infinitely more dangerous.

"Tell me something new. Where else would they have taken her?" Hex demanded.

Miguel gulped down air, acutely aware of the two pads still on his legs providing a pathway for the electricity.

His eyes darted away from the teen's, avoiding his stare and maintaining his silence.

"I'm sorry Miguel you have to give us more then that." Hex declared and he thumbed the charge button once more.

"STOP, STOP." Miguel cried over the sound of the gathering charge and was relieved to hear the sound stop as Hex cancelled the charge.

"Talk." Hex ordered.

"I can't, he'll kill me." The frightened man croaked weakly.

"I'm not hearing where Amber is, so now you are just stalling for time." Hex thundered and he reached for the dial.

"You think you can play us just because we aren't adults Miguel? For that we are going full voltage for this next one: 360 joules" He growled savagely jabbing the charge button one final time.

The captive squeezed his eyes tight and started mumbling a mantra of "oh god, oh god, oh god," as the charge slowly built to full capacity.

The klaxons rang out once more signalling that the shock was ready to deliver, the unsettling sound echoing in the confines of the small pale room.

Sweat was bucketing off Miguel as Hex leaned in to deliver his ultimatum.

"Last chance. Where is she?"

Tears streaked the mans face as he pleaded, "Please he will kill me if I tell."

"No." Li spoke up drowning out the drone of noise from the machine. "We can help you, we can hide you. We aren't your average teenagers." She reassured him.

"Tell us where she is and we will do everything we can to help you." She promised him softly, meeting his terrified eyes.

A final tear rolled down Miguel's cheek as he turned between the angry teen offering him pain and the other teen that held salvation.

"She will be at his secondary holding point, an abandoned construction site on the outskirts of town."

The alarms immediately stopped as Hex dumped the charge, while Li freed one of the redeemed prisoners hands and passed him a pen and paper.

"We need an address."


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N- **Not long now... the pieces start to fall into place.

**-Grey.**

* * *

><p>Three points converged at once in the dim lighting of a hospital hallway.<p>

Alex trundled down the narrow hallways awkwardly trying to run while he dragged a wheeled fluid pole along beside him. The small wheels at the bottom of the pole were not designed for speed and the two bags of fluid suspended at his head height swung with the movement. Each swing precipitated a painful tug on his arm where the clear tubing connected into his veins. Against the doctors better judgement he had managed to leave the resuscitation bay with his freshly bandaged arm to try and meet up with his friends.

He turned a corner and ran straight into Paulo and Camilla who had just rushed in from the car park.

"Alex?" Camilla cried in surprise before being knocked flat on her arse with their collision.

Paulo also lost his footing and ended up sprawled on the ground. Alex managed to maintain his balance by bracing heavily on the pole at his side.

"Where are Li and Hex?" Alex asked brushing aside their questioning looks and offering his good hand to help his friends up one at a time.

"Dunno _amigo, _we were just coming to find them now. You got my text I take it?" Paulo answered dusting himself down before his eyes were drawn back to his injured comrade.

A cry from the other end of the corridor turned the group around to face the voice.

"Alex!"

Hex and Li were just emerging from their room pushing a silver trolley between them. Hex hastily rolled it back into its place against the wall before joining Li in the rush over to the other teens.

There was no time for greetings as Li triumphantly waved a piece of paper at the other teens.

"We've got the address." She happily announced, her excitement practically radiating from her.

Alex, Paulo and Camilla visibly relaxed at the good news and there seemed a moment of indecision where the five teens stood frozen in the intersection of corridors.

"Well what the hell are we waiting for?" Li asked the group impatiently, deflating the positive vibes from the good news as she started to bound towards the car park.

"Hold up there Li." Alex cautioned, "We can't just go rushing in without a plan we could just endanger Amber further."

"What do you propose?" Hex asked cautiously a large part of him agreeing with Li and wanting to rush away after their friend.

"We do a recce of the building, a quick surveillance run around it before making a plan to get her out." Alex quickly outlined, weighing his words carefully upon his friend's reactions.

Seeing Li's reluctance Paulo stepped in to back up Alex's suggestion. "There's no point rushing in blind is there? We should quickly gather some more information before taking any action."

"An hour spent in reconnaissance is never an hour wasted." Alex sagely reminded them, rattling off another one of his fathers favourite sayings.

Li finally nodded, sold on the argument while still feeling bitter for leaving her friend in enemy hands for even a second longer then necessary. Hex could relate to the feeling but it was only overshadowed by his need to be on the recon party to make sure she was still alive. The fact that Paulo and Camilla hadn't found her body was not enough assurance for him.

"Shotgun on the recon squad." He practically shouted to cement his place.

Further calls of shotgun rose from the rest of the group as each tried to stake their claim on the mission until Alex waved his hands to signal for silence.

"We will all go." He decided, "It sounds like a big place so if we spread out around it we will get a bigger picture and maybe find the best way in and out."

And with that final decision the five teens rushed out to the vehicles to find their friend.

* * *

><p>With her head beginning to clear of the fog, Amber was able to strain against her bonds and weakly lift her head to noises outside her door. A very one sided conversation was occurring in the other room, a familiar sinister voice was issuing orders for his team of flunkies. Willing her ears to the full extent of their ability, Amber was able to catch the general gist of his team villain was still obviously upset at the loss of the warehouses and perplexed as to who or how it had occurred.<p>

A shiver rocked Amber's uncovered body as she considered what the man would do if he was ever privilege to the truth about it. Thinking of her friends made her wonder just where they were at the moment. Did they know where she was? She had no question in her mind that they would do everything within their power to try and rescue her.

The idea did not exactly fill her with confidence when she stared at the bulky armed guard at the door, knowing that there were plenty more of them outside.

Armed men with the sole purpose of keeping her in and everyone else out.

Considering their fortified location and their significant advantage in both firepower and numbers Amber couldn't help but sadly wonder if Alpha Force was up to the task. Her depressed thoughts seemed to drain not only her mind but her spirit also and Amber suddenly became aware of just how tired she felt. Her eyelids tugged heavily at her again to sleep and given her exhausted helpless state she finally relented.

Her eyes slipping shut slowly holding onto the faint hope that her friends would get to her in time.

* * *

><p>The teens were spaced out two hundred metres apart forming a square around the construction site, their positions providing a comprehensive all round view of the structure. From his seat in the van down the block Alex grimly depressed the talk button on his handset radio.<p>

"Oscar Papa check in." He quietly requesting, giving the order for each observation position to give it's status. Alex had decided to stay back and coordinate efforts as he realised that sneaking was difficult when you're dragging around a drip pole complete with fluids.

On the rooftop of a neighbouring building the faint crackle of the radio caused Li to direct her attention away from the sprawling construction site.

It had been easy as pie for an expert free-climber like Li to gain access to the flat roof of the building she now inhabited. It had only taken a small amount of shimmying up the narrow space between buildings before she could find adequate handholds to get up. From there she had jumped a two-metre gap between the buildings and vaulted a low wall to come to her current position. The free-running and parkour that Li had been supplementing her climbing with was certainly put to good use.

That was how Li had come to be lying on the uncomfortable cold rooftop with a pair of night vision goggles propped on her head. Her lips moved silently counting the number of men that she could see, her morale slipped a little more each time with every green wraith she noted.

Hex's research had suggested that the incomplete building was going to be a large set of office blocks but production had been halted a few weeks ago by unions run by the local mob. Apparently the developer had forgotten to pay the tithe set in place by the Russians and as a result production had ceased while they negotiated the property with the mob's leader.

In response to the radio message Li slowly brought the hand set to her now pursed lips. "This is Zero One, I count four X-rays on my side." She reported sullenly, enunciating the words with care.

Her fingers mercifully released the transmit button and there was a breath of silence before the next observation point called in.

"Zero Two, Uh I've got three here." The crackly voice of Camilla announced, her uncertainty in her current role was even carried through the small speaker on the radio.

Another short pause ensued before the South American called in from the corner of the site opposite Li.

"Zero Three, I've got two and a lot of left over machinery and supplies." Paulo's accent seemed more pronounced over the airwaves as he gave an account for his view.

Hex called in last of all from his concealed position where he stealthily stood in a darkened alcove with the thermal imaging scope.

The calm, cool voice of Hex gave the total figures that he had picked with his enhanced viewing capability.

"Zero Four, We've got a total of three X-rays outside, six inside and I have visual on the prize."

As he breathed the final words his eyes remained trapped by the faint red/orange blob that sat shorter then the rest and represented the bound and seated girl that he desired so much to save.

Not wanting to risk the revealing light of his palmtop, he noted the rough positions of everything he could see on a small sketch pad before the hacker reluctantly dropped his eyes from the scope and took a deep steadying breath. Careful to stay in the shadows he packed up his conspicuous equipment and slowly walked back down the block back towards the vehicles.

He felt like a complete deserter for leaving Amber where she was and a large part of him just wanted to ninja his way in, right there and then to save her. Once more the rationale part of him beat the impulsive side into submission and he stalked his way back from the street corner he had been concealed in for his observation.

He was startled to find himself the final member of the recon team to make it back to the van where Alex was situated.

* * *

><p>Alex looked around the faces of the group he had mustered.<p>

Before him stood four teens who looked exhausted and filthy but excited. They sensed the pieces were finally falling into place and that a plan was beginning to take form with each new nugget of information they gathered.

Their fatigue helped to temper their impatience to get into it and Alex made the executive decision that noone wanted to hear.

"Now we go back to the mansion to plan and prepare for this." He declared throwing his serious gaze over the expectant group.

Howls of outrage met his announcement and rebellious muttering broke out among the teens.

"What?" Paulo cried.

"Damn it we are right here!" Hex growled angrily.

"We could sneak in right now and-" Li started in protest before Alex's cut across the others in annoyance.

"And do what Li?" He snarled, his challenging glare extending across to a defiant looking Hex as well.

"We run in there with a half-cooked scheme we get Amber killed it is as simple as that. We only get one bloody shot at this and it is going to be all or nothing." He frankly declared.

Alex's simple but effective argument combined with his unnatural outburst quashed all rebellion and his voice lost its harsh edge as continued to explain.

"If they suspect trouble they execute her, therefore depriving a rescue party of their goal. That is not conjecture, it is fact, hostage taking 101 if you will."

"So we need to stop them or get her out before that can happen." Hex stubbornly delivered as an ultimatum, trying to ignore his niggling uncertainty.

"Exactly." Alex agreed, glad that they could still see the same conclusion.

"But how are we going to that? There are so many of them down there and they are armed to the teeth." Paulo despondently mused through a creased brow.

A familiar energy brimmed through Alex as he revealed with a flourish.

"I might have a plan from the information we have gathered."

Camilla beamed in pride at the clever teen that she called her boyfriend as he displayed his I'm-responsible-trust-me look to the group.

"What's the plan?" Li probed, eager to get moving again at the thought of her best friend still stranded inside.

"Not here," Alex refused, "We go back to Amber's place first, we need somewhere to properly plan this and everyone could use a few hours sleep."

"Sleep?" The group yelped as one in disbelief.

"How can we sleep while Amber's-" Hex fired up again at the preposterous idea.

Alex cut through the arguments once more in his calm rock steady tone.

"No argument, we are all dead on your feet with exhaustion and we're going to need all our strength for the coming storm."

Glancing at his watch he continued,

"Nothing is going to happen to Amber in these early hours, they need her to make the payment later on so we have a couple of hours before dawn to bunk down."

With much grumbling the team split up between the BMW and their stolen van, which Paulo had earlier christened "The Mystery Machine".

"You better hope your right about this." Hex warned Alex as got in the other vehicle.

"Boy do I ever." Alex whispered to himself, haunted as he watched the construction site fade in his rearview mirror.


	24. Chapter 24

It was a silent, tense journey back to the mansion but upon arrival the high level of fatigue was highlighted by the constant yawning and eyelids that sat at half-mast. Because of this no further argument was put forward against getting a couple of hours rest as the tired team trundled through the extravagant doors of the house. Before anyone could find a bed however Alex requested they all submit to the group their individual recon reports including any photos and sketches they had taken.

With information flowing in, Alex started drawing a rough diagram of the complex on the whiteboard he added features as they were mentioned. His good arm worked quickly with the plastic tubing from his bags of fluid tugging with each movement, the bags almost empty. Soon an elaborate drawing had taken form showing the single floor structure, its access and egress. It also included rough locations and paths of the security as well as more seemingly random features such as the areas of open rebar, the machinery that had been left behind and the discarded building supplies on the south side of the building.

A single red dot in the centre of the building represented the location of their captured friend.

Happy with the diagram Alex now posted a few questions to his friends.

"What kind of building supplies are on the south side of the building?"

Paulo replied after checking his hastily written, illegible notes, he had known Alex was a stickler for detail and he was now glad that he made the effort to include the mundane fact.

"General building supplies." He shrugged, "Lengths of timber, insulation, gib board and bags of cement."

"What about the machines did you recognise any of them?" Alex then asked, seemingly satisfied with the first answer.

"A digger, a couple of bobcats and a bulldozer." Paulo wearily reported, starting to get worn down by the debriefing.

Alex asked him just one more question. "Could you operate any of those machines if you had to Paulo?"

The Argentinean boys eyes brightened at the prospect as he considered the specs of the vehicles and his confidence in using them.

"We did all of our own landscaping and building on the ranch _hombre, _so yea I've used machines like them before."

Camilla cut across the two conversing teens.

"Excuse me but what the hell does this have to do with rescuing Amber? Aren't there more important details to account for?" She asked in fatigue and frustration at the length of the questioning.

Hex however noticed the gleam in Alex's eyes despite the late hour; his barely concealed game face.

The teen from Northumbria was building a plan.

"Shhhh," Hex hushed Camilla gently, "Can't you see that Alex has an idea? Besides in any mission even the smallest details can be significant."

Camilla bit her tongue at the light reprimand and held her tongue, determined not to speak up again and make an idiot of herself again. It was becoming more and more apparent to her just how out of her league she was with Alpha Force. The group was more like a young special forces team then a bunch of friends with a good collection of skills between them. _What can I bring to such a team? _She wondered morosely. The four teens knew what they were they doing and the best she could really do was shut up and perform whatever task they asked of her.

Alex picked up on the change in his girlfriend but could do nothing to remedy the situation, as he had to push on with their current task.

"We are nearly done anyway we've got a pretty good picture here now all we need to do is assess what resources we have at our disposal." He informed his friends as he rubbed his weary eyes.

* * *

><p>Hex tossed a small black bag on the table and tipped its contents onto the hard surface.<p>

"This is everything that was in the van that I couldn't identify or that we had no use for." He told the group.

It was predominantly cylinders of various shapes and lengths that bumped and rolled back and forth across the table as the friends gathered in close to inspect the items.

"I thought those might be some kind of grenade, do you recognise them Alex?" Hex asked his militant mate as he pointed to a couple of the cylinders that appeared to have a handle and pin on one side.

Alex picked up the roughly hexagonal tube that fit into his hand easily. His eyes ran over the black exterior and noted the circular indents in the body of the device before sweeping over the lever and pin mechanism.

Very carefully he replaced the object back on the table and gently slid across its twin to join it at one end of the table.

"It's a stun grenade," He declared in awe, stoked at finally getting to handle one in person. "M84 model I believe."

"What is a stun grenade?" Camilla asked carefully.

"A flash-bang? A stunner? No?" Alex asked, her confusion deepened as she shook her head indicating that she was unfamiliar with the terms.

Hex leapt into explain, happy to steal the opportunity from his friend as years of computer game knowledge finally came in handy.

"It is a non-lethal grenade that emits a blinding flash of light and a really loud bang when it goes off. Great for temporarily disabling bad guys." He finished his explanation with a wide uncharacteristic grin when he realised its potential in their daring rescue.

Alex confirmed the explanation with a nod, slightly disheartened that he had been robbed of the opportunity to talk about military stuff.

"Is this some other type of grenade?" Paulo asked holding up a skinny silver cylinder with a blackened handgrip that was unnaturally heavy.

It was Li who answered this one as she took the other one off the table and inspected it for a minute before suddenly flicking her wrist away from her body.

With a series of loud clicks, silver segments extended from the base that she held until the slim stick finished at a little over a foot in length.

At the very end of the stick sat a flat heavy cylinder about a centimetre thick.

"Telescopic baton," She told him before giving the heavy object a good swing.

The air could be heard rushing past the baton on its journey from one of her shoulders to the other.

Paulo took a couple of flicks before he was able to extend his own one and take a few practice swings with it himself.

"Wow its really heavy Li." He commented in wonder at the simple weapon.

"Yup weighted with lead, it does a lot of damage when you hit someone with it. A simple but devastating weapon." She concluded flipping the baton around and hitting the end into the ground collapsing the segments back into the base before returning it to the table.

"Pepper spray right?" Camilla checked with her boyfriend who had been watching with interest the demonstration with the batons.

"That' right." He confirmed looking at the last and littlest cylinder that the blonde had retrieved from the table.

"They are all clever weapons designed for the non-lethal takedown of opponents, you can see why kidnappers would like them." Hex grimly summed up.

Paulo pointed at the two stun grenades on the table, "I was quietly hoping they were teargas grenades." He admitted, a little disappointed as he remembered the crippling effect of the chemical weapons when they were in Africa.

"Tear gas would have been pretty ideal for stopping a room full of baddies, the stun grenades just don't always keep them down long enough." Alex conceded also remembering how immobilised they had been by the choking gas.

Synapses fired in Hex's brain as an idea of his own started to form and flood him with excitement as he mentally started fault checking the idea. Alex caught the sudden inspired expression and finished the briefing, dismissing the others to bed with something he had secretly always wanted to say.

"Get some sleep. We attack at dawn." He ordered breaking into a grin at the last minute as the rest of the group did the same.

"So what was your plan for this Alex?" Hex asked carefully, considering his friend closely as the others filed out to find somewhere to sleep.

Alex returned to the board and happily revealed his thoughts to the clever hacker in order to hear his idea in turn.

"I like it Alex," Hex declared when he had finished, a sly grin forming, "But I got one thing to add to it."

* * *

><p>A distant beeping broke Hex from his sleep.<p>

The teen from London felt like he had just put his head down but it was time for him to wake up already. He and Alex had stayed up an additional hour preparing his new feature for the raid at dawn. It had been messy work but they had found the required materials they needed in the unlocked gardeners shed and they had worked on their creations out there. Tired beyond belief but satisfied with their end product the two teens had retired to their respective beds to snatch a couple of hours sleep before reveille.

"It would have been a lot quicker if you had been able to just bring your own from home." Hex grumbled to Alex before they parted ways.

A tired grin had cut Alex's face at the thought of the stir that would have caused getting his on the plane.

Hex rubbed his heavy eyelids and forced himself to sit up in his bed in the guest bedroom. His sore eyes protested as he reluctantly switched on the light beside his bed and silenced the shrill alarm from his watch that had woken him. Joints creaked and muscles ached as he pushed himself off the bed to find some clothes, his mind felt slow and gummy from lack of sleep.

_Come on man, sharpen up! _He kicked himself mentally. _It's finally time for action, Amber needs you,_ he reminded himself trying to find some motivation for his weary body. Mind and spirit finally overcame his burdened body and he found a burst of energy to drag on his worn black jeans and his obsidian coloured long sleeve. Fumbling in the half light of the room Hex found his boots and jammed his feet in, determined to do his laces up on the way.

His watery eyes caught on the leather jacket he had discarded on the floor, the one he had been wearing since his ruse on the guard last night. Shrugging his shoulders in acceptance that it did look pretty damn awesome, he plucked it from the floor and shoved his arms through the lined sleeves as he made for the door.

Finally he scooped up his palmtop and cell phone from the bedside table and slid out the door to meet his friends.

He sniffed his t-shirt on the way down the stairs and was disappointed to find that it still reeked of his and Alex's last minute, late night task. _Damn, I hope that smell washes out, _Hex thought absently as he dropped down the last couple of stairs and made his way into the large dining room.

Alex of course, was already there looking like a general as he surveyed his planning board. He had added in the extra elements that the hacker had came up with last night and overall he was pretty satisfied with the plan. His last minute sweep of the board was just to see if there was any aspect he had overlooked in his haste or fatigue. _Always look on a plan with fresh eyes, _he thought, remembering his father's words of advice on the subject. _I feel a bit out of my depth at the moment actually, I wish dad was here, _he quietly admitted to himself. Unfortunately it was all on him and his friends were trusting him to make the right moves.

Alex only turned around when he realised that the others had all woken up. In consideration of their possible compromised states he had made an extra strong batch of coffee, which now sat steaming on the table.

"Good morning," he greeted in a mild tone as each took their seats and the caffeine began to flow.

Camilla caught his eyes and narrowed hers with suspicion; she had been expecting him to follow her upstairs last night to sleep by her as they usually did when they were together. His absence had been duly noted, meaning that he had either slept by himself somewhere or he hadn't gone to bed at all. As she took in the dark shadows under his eyes and his reserved manner she suspected the latter was more likely. Camilla pouted at him, letting him know that she was onto him and not happy with his decision. Alex caught the expression and discarded her concern with a slight incline of his head and the hint of a shrug.

* * *

><p>Paulo was not a morning person and cut through the slow start with a grumbling request.<p>

"Can you hurry up and brief us Alex so we can get moving?"

His grumpy mood was quickly turned around when he discovered a bowl of muffins on the table, to which he helped himself.

Despite the early hour Li couldn't help but giggle at the Latin teen, who was always a much different guy at the prospect of food.

Alex concealed his grin by taking a swig of his sweetened coffee before starting on the briefing.

"On the table you will find an envelope with your name on it, this contains the specific details for your part in the plan. I'll give you all a moment to read that now and after that I will go over a general outline, parameters and we can discuss any problems."

A rustling ensued as each person opened their envelope to read the hand written instructions in each, some peoples instructions were considerably longer then others. As his team read and reread his writing, Alex swept their faces trying to judge their reactions and anticipate any concerns.

Hex put his paper down first, having already been privy to the plan last night and having helped modify it, he was familiar with his role.

Camilla was next having a relatively minor part to play in the big scheme of things. Her face was already drawn with fatigue but it had seemed to lose colour after she read what was required of her. _She wanted to help us, well she got her wish, _Hex though roughly, noticing her discomfort.

Li looked up next, content with her part in things the designated role well suited to her strengths and talent. Mentally she started rehearsing her actions in her head, running all possible scenarios and trying to consider any complications. She noted only a few but considered them occupational hazards that they could not further mitigate.

Paulo to no ones surprise finished last, largely due to the extensive notes he was expected to read. Upon completion he leaned back in his seat and let out a low whistle, "It's bold _hombre_." He commented slowly, evaluating Alex's reaction.

Alex shot out a rare cocky grin, "It is bold and that's why it will work Paulo. Shock and Awe."

Paulo seemed satisfied by this short explanation and inclined his head to encourage Alex to carry on as if not interrupted.

"You all know your part in things to come?" Alex confirmed meeting the eyes of each person in his crew. One by one the teens nodded their heads seriously having been woken up fully and sobered by their individual tasking cards.

Trying to conduct his briefing as closely to the military format as he could remember, Alex continued.

"Our primary objective is to extricate Amber and ourselves from the building unharmed, securing criminal elements within the facility is only a secondary consideration if the opportunity presents itself." He read from the card he had written for himself.

Looking up again he summarised for his friends. "Basically we are here to get Amber out that is our one goal, we can always catch the bad guys later but we won't do it at the expense of anyone's safety."

Hex pushed aside his thoughts of vengeance in favour of focusing solely on rescuing Amber. _There will be time for that later_, he decided, as he tabled his anger to concentrate on what, or rather who, was really important to him.

Alex had carried on, returning to the card, while Hex was still stumbling through some deep thoughts.

"This task will be achieved through the distraction, immobilisation and neutralisation of unfriendly elements within the area of operation." He pointed to the diagram on the planning board. "In doing so, a safe path of egress will be ensured for Amber as she is aided by our forces to escape."

Coming up from his cards to meet his friend's faces again, Alex broke the strict military format he had been using to convey a few extra points.

"It's all on us here people, we've got reason to belief that Ivanovich has people within the police force so we can't go to them for help as it will create a greater risk to Amber's life."

Li frowned but nodded at the common sense of the statement. _How bad is it that we can't trust the police? It's like India all over again!_ She reflected.

Paulo quietly assessed the young teen in front of him as he finished talking. _Alex has really out done himself in the planning phase this time, _he thought. _I can see he's still dead set on getting into the military and he must be doing a lot of reading up on soldiering. _Paulo decided, having considered the more structured approach to his planning this time and the wealth of knowledge he had displayed recently around the topic.

Hex decided to run things past Alex one last time just to ensure the others had the plan down pat. "So you guys quietly take out the guards patrolling the perimeter, while me and Paulo ready the distraction right?"

"That's correct." Alex confirmed.

Li jumped in to check on the next part, "Then with the distraction in effect the three of us rush in to disable as many enemies as we can while Hex and Paulo make a beeline straight for Amber."

"You guys were paying attention to the plan?" Alex stated in feigned surprise before Paulo finished up their recap.

"Finally, we all get out the way that me and Hex came in and run like hell for the van."

"Well… yeah that's actually pretty much it. Any questions?" Alex reluctantly admitted, thinking that it had sounded a lot more elegant in his written form.

"Just one Alex," Camilla timidly spoke up, as her eyes fell on the small gauze square on her boyfriends arm, "Are you in any shape to go with us?"

_Oooooh right to the point that girl. _Hex thought wryly as he watched Alex's reaction to the accusation.

He handled it pretty well all things considered and purposefully rolled down the sleeve on his good arm to cover up the bandage, which he had required after pulling out his intravenous catheter last night.

Alex's other wound was already concealed by the dark turtleneck he wore and to someone who didn't know any better, he now looked like a normal uninjured teenager.

In a quiet restrained voice he finally answered his girlfriend through gritted teeth.

"I've had a blood transfusion, a litre of saline and my arm has been bandaged by a doctor. We are currently down one member of Alpha Force, who also happens to be a very close friend of ours. If you think I am staying back, while the last of Alpha Force and my girlfriend go in to get Amber then you really don't know me at all."

The instant his last sentence had left his mouth Alex instantly regretted it seeing the look of hurt it burned into the concerned girl.

An awkward silence crossed the room as the rest of Alpha Force shared a grimace at Alex's harshness. _Damn, even to me that sounded cold_, Hex thought, a little bit shocked by his friends retort.

"I'm sorry for caring." She muttered darkly as storms crossed her eyes and shut out the man who had injured her.

Alex immediately went into damage control, knowing that he didn't need this sort of internal conflict so close to H-hour.

"I didn't mean for it to come out like that," He apologised softly as he fixed his gaze on her alone. "What I was trying to stress is that we are in a difficult situation here and we need all the help we can get. I was insensitive and I'm sorry but we need… I need everyone on board for this one and that means you too Camilla."

She couldn't hide from the sincere plea in his voice and warm feeling of being needed, she had no choice but to form a small fragile smile. _Damn it how does he always talk me down? _She wondered to herself half annoyed as Alex sent her an encouraging wink that was tainted with sadness. A shadow he still hadn't shaken since seeing her again, that didn't go unnoticed.

"Well if there is nothing else, should we go then?" Li suggested acutely aware of the ticking of the clock.

"I think that would be best." Paulo agreed and plucked the van keys from the table, eager to leave the tense scene behind him.


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N- **The stage is set and the pieces are all in place. Time for some much needed action! ;)

**-Grey.**

* * *

><p>Their faces blackened up and fully equipped with their miniature arsenal, the remainder of Alpha Force deployed to the area. Both Alex and Li grabbed a stun grenade and a telescopic baton each, while Camilla was left with the can of pepper spray. Paulo was more then happy with his stun gun, which had fresh batteries and Hex was still satisfied with his police style baton from earlier.<p>

They approached from the South side of the building and split off into their teams, Hex and Paulo remaining at the south side of the building to prepare their part of the plan while the others moved on. At the vertices of the South and Eastern wall Li split one way while Camilla and Alex took the other, both groups hugging the wall and steadily separating into the night.

* * *

><p>Camilla and Alex came across their guard first where he stood with his back to them smoking a cigarette by the uncovered pit of rebar. His back was towards the open door of the sole building a few metres behind him. Not expecting trouble from within the site already, his watch was focussed outwards.<p>

A mistake as it turned out.

Feeling foolish, Alex realised that in his focus on stealth he had forgotten to deploy his baton prior to contact. Cursing internally, he regretted that there was no way to extend the weapon now without alerting the guard with a telltale set of clicks. Recovering from the shake up of a mistake so early in the piece, Alex remembered the pepper spray that Camilla was carrying.

He signalled to her to ready the weapon by miming a spraying motion with his hand. Understanding his message she drew the device from her pocket and readied the canister for use. Silently the pair padded their way closer to the guard, who stood on the edge of the ledge surveying the site. Footfalls were carefully chosen as they stepped around the stacks of timber and piles of loose gravel on the short path to their victim.

When they had reached just a few feet from the unaware man Camilla raised the spray with her finger poised over the tab that once depressed would unleash a stream of chemical that was a powerful irritant.

It was in that moment however that a faint whistling caught both teens attention as a second guard casually stepped out of the doorway behind them.

Time slowed down for Alex as he considered the new opposition.

In the same instant that the teens turned to acknowledge the new presence, so too did the guard they had been sneaking up on. His eyes sprung open wide as saucers as he found two teenagers right behind him looking extremely suspicious.

The guard's throat was just finding the appropriate sounds when Camilla pressed the trigger of her weapon and a spray of liquid burning engulfed his eyes and face. His scream was suppressed in his mouth by the harsh chemical that entered his throat and muffled the noise with its spicy mixture. The pounding in Camilla's chest made the canister shake in her delicate hands as it delivered a steady stream of spray.

The refined compound of chilli caused an immediate burning on contact with his skin; an increase in secretion from mucus membranes and a pain that made keeping one's eyes open impossible. A high pitched, spluttering, gurgle was all the noise the disabled man was capable of making as he sunk to his knees, with a stinging throat, clutching his assaulted eyeballs.

At the exact same time that Camilla was acting, Alex was moving to close the distance between himself and their new opponent.

The newcomer had frozen just out of the doorway as he suddenly took in the unexpected sight before him. With stealth forgotten, Alex extended his stick on the charge and swatted out with it, one handed, as soon as he was in range. The heavy silver tip flashed in the dim light and landed a heavy blow across his opponent's broad chest.

Lead and steel impacted on sinew with a distinct crack that started a shockwave of further snaps as ribs gave out under the extreme force. Breath was bashed from the hollow organs in the chest with a muffled huff.

Alex chambered the baton back across his shoulders and took advantage of his winded opposition to strike again. This time, with a firmer base, he was able to better swing the top-heavy, damaging device, drawing force from the rotation of his hips and the whip of the elbow. His first shot caught only arms and hands as they were brought up to block by a man desperate to escape further a couple more savage hits however, Alex managed to bypass the fleeting defence and land a decent shot on the burly mans head.

With a whipping noise, the deadly tip connected with the corner of the unwitting guards skull, smashing his chin down into his chest and destroying his consciousness. The big man was crumpling to the ground with a significant dent in his skull, as Alex turned over his shoulder to check on the first combatant.

* * *

><p>Camilla was desperately delivering another relentless dose of the noxious spray into the thugs half covered face as he bravely tried to find his feet. On shaky legs, the man managed to stand with his back to the ledge and reach for the weapon holstered under his armpit.<p>

Alex could still feel the adrenaline in his system, bolstering his speed and reactions as he sprinted off the mark, trying to beat the draw. Camilla's stream faltered and stopped in her hands before she was brushed aside as Alex hustled past her. Being completely blind and feeling as though his face was inhabited by wasps would have slowed down anyone's drawing of a firearm and the man had just got the submachine gun free of his jacket as Alex reached him.

Unable to kill his momentum, Alex collided into the blinded thug, shoulder first and pummelled him backwards. The teen was knocked back onto his arse by the sudden deceleration, where he could only watch as the bad guy stumbled backwards over the edge.

Camilla raced to the edge prepared to finish the opponent only to find in disgust that her efforts would not be required. Alex rolled forward onto his feet to meet her at the precipice to view what she could see.

She recoiled back into his shoulder at the unpleasant sight before them.

Suspended about a foot off the ground was the unfortunate foe who had landed directly atop the exposed rebar, which now penetrated him completely and held him aloft.

The spiralled, rust coloured poles protruded from his chest and abdomen as well as one of his legs. Trails of blood rapidly descended the spiral grooves of the rebar, repainting the surface with the thick fluid of lost life. His eyes were wide with unimaginable amounts of pain as his impaled body shook involuntary on the metal spires. Slow ragged breaths escaped through the gaping lips of the doomed man as his body began to shut down from the immense strain of the multi-system trauma.

A crimson pool was beginning to form at the base of the poles when Alex turned his girlfriend away and slunk back into the safety of the shadows, dragging the other disabled guard between them.

There was time to dwell on the dead with their next task looming.

* * *

><p>Li skulked around the darkened building stalking her prey like a darkened jungle cat. Her prey in this instance was the final man on security who was patrolling the perimeter of the site.<p>

Like the rest of the hired muscle his guard was built like an athlete with bulging biceps and broad shoulders. _Jeez where do they find these guys Thugs-Are-Us? Maybe there is an Internet mail-order catalogue for disposable henchmen._ Li wondered in consideration of the seemingly shared character traits that the Mobs security apparently looked for during recruitment.

The shaven head of the man rotated as he scanned his environment perceptively. The thick tendons in his neck strained with each flick of his head and muscles rippled down his back. Despite his colossal size, Li still backed herself against the man and as she lurked closer and mentally rehearsed the takedown technique she would utilise.

As the guard continued his route around the side of the building his path led him into a patch of darkness where the streetlamp's light were unable to reach.

It was here that Li made her move.

Taking advantage of the virtual invisibility provided by her darkened clothing and face, the wiry Asian girl waited until her victim was fully immersed in the darkness and no longer facing her before she struck. Unlike Alex, she had remembered to extend her baton prior to closing on her target and there was no telltale noise as she slid it out from under her shirt.

With a calming breath out, Li held one end of the baton in each hand and reached her arms over the big man's head. Putting on a sudden burst of violence, she wrapped the heavy rod across the bridge of her victims nose and dragged backwards sharply, with all her weight. A crunch sounded from under the stick as the effort broke the fragile bones in the face as the unfortunate guard was yanked backwards over his point of balance in a very painful fashion. With a grunt of pain the muscled guards hands instantly flew to the area of discomfort and he tried in vain to wrestle the painful pressure off his face.

The direction of her force changed the instant his head and shoulders overtook his hips, at which point Li put more weight downwards then backwards, driving her opponent to the ground. With her opponent now lying on his back with his neck at an awkward angle, Li released the crushing pressure of the rod and slid it further down to cross his neck.

Switching the site of her squeeze, Li cut off the man's scream before it could start as she quickly occluded his carotid arteries with the stick on one side and her strong forearm on the other. Li gritted her teeth in concentration and braced with her strong arms as hard as she could. She knew that this modified _Hadaka Jime _or 'Rear Naked Strangle' prevented bloodflow to the brain and would quickly render her opponent unconscious.

As his brain became hypoxic, the guard frantically scrambled at her strong grip to try and gain some reprieve from the strangulation. Li buried her determined face into the safety of her own bicep as desperate fingers sought any means of release and dragged bloody trails down her forehead, arms and shoulders. In this way she protected her eyes from assault and ensured she could focus on the technique without worry of serious injury.

With a suddenness that always startled her, the body in her grip stopped fighting and instead began twitching chaotically in a full tonic-clonic seizure before sinking into a limp, unconscious state. Li immediately released the pressure with her arm and stick, ignoring the dark whispers in the far corners of the mind.

The devil perched on her shoulder reminding her how easy it would be just to hold the strangle on a little bit longer and really finish the fight…..

Having faced down the darkest temptation of combat, Li uncoiled herself from the limp form and got to work tying and gagging him while he was still out.

From previous experience in the dojo, Li knew she had about ten to twenty seconds before the man started coming to. She worked quickly and only just made her timeframe as the staring absent eyes suddenly blinked and it was as if a lighter was being clicked. A spark of life flashed in the fallen foes eyes before they sharpened in focus and consciousness truly returned. Li always watched this phenomenon; intrigued and fascinated at the moment in which spirit asserted itself over the unconscious state.

Content that the guy was still alive; Li rolled the heavy man off of the main path and out of site. Her forearms ached from applying the strangle and lines of pain marked her body where the disabled man had broken her skin in desperation to escape.

In the sullen darkness Li prepared herself and waited for the next stage of the plan to commence.

* * *

><p>At the southern end of the site and completely oblivious to the plight of their friends, Hex and Paulo were putting the finishing touches on their role in the rescue.<p>

Paulo was sitting in the rollcage cab of a Bobcat hydraulic loader, a compact, bucketed vehicle that weighed a bit over a tonne. The dynamic four-wheeled vehicle was extremely powerful despite its small size and was a useful all-purpose vehicle in the construction industry. The Argentinean had just finished working on the ignition for the vehicle and he was now certain he could start it at a moments notice.

With nothing to do but wait for his signal he allowed his attention to drift outside of the canopy to see Hex returning towards him. Slung over his broad shoulder was a dusty 20L bag of cement that he placed in the bucket of the vehicle as if it was a child. The hacker was glad to finally put down the heavy bag and found himself confronted by Paulo's confused face as he rotated his hips in a small stretch.

"What's with the bag Hex?" Paulo whispered in confusion, which was only deepened as he spotted strips of duct tape running along the top of the large, chalky bag.

"All part of the plan." Hex reassured him with a wink as he disappeared to bring back a second cement bag.

"To help with the distraction." He panted quietly as he arrived back with the second bag, which he also placed gingerly in the tilted bucket of the bobcat.

Paulo was not really satisfied by this explanation but trusted his friend too much to question him further about it. _If Hex says it will help, then it will help, _he reassured his restless mind.

Radios crackled very faintly on the boy's belts and a voice laced with static whispered to them.

"Okay fire it up Paulo and you guys are a go. Hex give him a few seconds to breach." Paulo could only just recognise the whisper as belonging to Alex before Hex replied for the two of them.

"Roger that." Hex drawled and reached behind him for some objects.

"Here," He said as he tossed a pair of earmuffs and a dust mask to Paulo in the cab, "You should always wear your safety equipment," He lectured mock serious.

Paulo shot him the cocky devil-may-care grin but donned the hearing protection and crisp mask anyway before dropping down the security arm onto his lap. With fingers crossed on his spare hand, he keying the modified ignition and was rewarded with the low grumbling start of the engine. Paulo quickly pulled back the lever at the side of his seat to reduce the revs of the powerful vehicle. On low revs the powerful vehicle was surprisingly quiet, although the strong vibrations ran up Paulo's arms on the control levers and bounced through his feet where they rested on the pedals.

After counting to ten in his head he slowly crept the vehicle to its designated position and swung Hex a merry two fingered salute.

The Hacker grinned at his friend and dug his phone out of his pocket, his chest beginning to pound as the testing moment drew closer.


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N-** Enjoy! I know I did writing it ;)

**-Grey.**

* * *

><p>Amber was a woken by a hard slap across the face.<p>

Disorientated and with a stinging face, her eyes snapped open and her mind took a few moments to comprehend her situation. The first thing her startled eyes saw was the ugly face of Dimitri Ivanovich. His cruel face was set in a nasty sneer and his gravely voice sent quakes down her spine.

"Wake up," He spat, raising his hand again letting her know it was he who had delivered the first blow.

Amber twisted her face in revulsion at the boar of a man but held her tongue, recognising it would just earn her another blow.

"Oh you have learned some manners now?" The mob boss taunted her, obviously enjoying his position of power.

Hate rose from every pore on Amber's skin as the vile man surveyed her largely exposed body before speaking again.

"It won't be long until you can transfer the money so I figured there was no point letting you sleep." His cold tone announced.

"Since you're up I figured we as well enjoy each others company while you are still here." He continued, something darker and more menacing rose in his voice at these words.

Amber strained with her bound hands against the back of the chair with no result as the man started to lean in closer a threatening look in his eye. Finally as he reached her striking distance she pushed off hard from the ground with both feet to lean back on the rear legs of the chair. With the increased distance and angle from the villain she managed to flick one of her strong legs up to deliver a kick to a place men really hate being kicked. Ivanovich was completely unprepared for the assault on his manhood and crumpled backwards in a heap clutching his damaged goods.

Amber desperately tried to rebalance the chair after the blow, knowing it was likely to be her only chance to escape. Unfortunately the momentum of her blow was too much and to her horror, the whole chair continued to tip over backwards until it came to a violent stop on the ground with a loud crash. The impact jarred her whole body and she felt the teeth rattle in her skull as the chair came to a halt.

Trapped on her back like an overturned turtle, Amber could only watch in fear as the man she had just downed slowly rose to his feet with a furious expression. He took two pained steps towards her overturned chair to close the distance before drawing his foot back and driving in with a powerful kick. Amber had no way of dodging as his foot connected solidly with ribs, knocking the air from her lungs. Several loud snaps issued from her flank and the sudden intense pain drew a silent scream from her lips. The scream grew into a weak whimper as air cruelly returned to her lungs, causing a sharp pain with each laboured breath.

"Don't push me Bitch, I might decide I have enough money as it is." Her assailant threatened in a hiss,

The injured leader stormed past the stunned guard at the door and his bellowing could be heard from the large main room. "And would someone tie up her bloody feet?"

The scrambling of minions ensued as they hastened to carry out their boss's orders.

Amber was left to enjoy the view of the single swaying light bulb that provided light for her room, as someone bound her feet together with a length of chord. Once they felt sure they couldn't be kicked, her chair was leaned back up and she was left with just her single guard again.

Amber winced at the sickening pain in her side and bitterly lamented on the worsening of her circumstances.

All thought was shattered from her head as a monumental crash shook the whole structure on its foundations.

* * *

><p>Chaos reigned as Paulo drove his bobcat straight through the wall of the single story building.<p>

Plasterboard and concrete exploded inwards with a loud crunching roar at the sudden impact. Paulo's raised bucket took the brunt of the collision, protecting him from the fragmented projectiles.

The inhabitants of the main room were caught completely by surprise as the large steel bucket of the loader smashed through the wall right beside them. They could only stare in shock as they were showered with debris and dust from the sudden intrusion. Ivanovich was first to be broken from the stunned spell and he immediately ran back for the door to the cell, his thoughts focused on the prisoner.

Outside the building Hex had watched anxiously as his friend forced his way into the building with the machine. He had been the one to pick the entry point, using the infrared lenses to make sure that Amber was well away from the point of impact. Happy with the breach that had occurred, he drew his cellphone from his pocket and dialled a number from his speed dial.

The bucket of the loader had fully penetrated the building interior and faced the group of men who were now starting to break from their stunned state.

They were still completely unprepared for what happened next though.

From the bucket of the grader a cloud of thick grey smoke suddenly erupted with a tremendous bang. The contour of the bucket focussed the explosion from the cement bags forwards, into the building where it engulfed the room. Hex sighed in relief as the home made explosives he and Alex had created last night, from various common household chemicals, did its job. (**A/N- **I'm not teaching you which ones!). America's tough customs laws had prevented Alex from bringing his routine det pack with him on this holiday so the boys had been forced to make some explosives detonator he had fashioned from Alex's cellphone had also worked admirably, igniting the charges the instant the phone was rung. (**A/N- **I'm not teaching you how to do this either!).

The simple improvised explosive devices were used to great effect, as the occupants of the building soon found out.

Cement dust as it turned out wasn't a bad substitute for teargas when it came to immobilising people. The dense cloud immediately adhered to any moisture and formed a thick grainy muck. Unfortunately both the human eye and the respiratory tract are coated with a moist mucus or lacrimation and proved prime targets for the grey dust. The four men who got the full brunt of the blast fell to their knees in agony, as they were painfully rendered blind by the unusual assault weapon. Their cries were quickly dulled as the dust managed to further invade their throat and lungs with each scream and make breathing difficult.

Paulo watched without satisfaction as the coughing, gagging men pawed at their faces in unsurmountable pain. He quickly reversed the bobcat out of the hole, taking out a further metre of wall while doing so, to avoid suffering a similar fate as the suffering men.

With the hole now clear Hex dashed through the new entry point to find Amber.

* * *

><p>As soon as the explosion was detonated to deliver the disabling dust, Li, Alex and Camilla had stormed through the open door. Goggles strapped across their eyes protected them from the blinding duststorm, while the industrial facemasks they had liberated from the building stores saved their lungs from the choking fog. With rehearsed precision the three raiders split into two groups and sprinted along the perimeter of the room. With one hand on the wall, each teen was able to run at full speed while being able to safely navigate the room through the thick particle cloud that made sight impossible.<p>

Realising they were under attack and now in a literal blind panic, the crippled soldiers drew their side arms and started to take pot shots at the sounds of the humming assault vehicle and the nearby running feet. With the introduction of firearms to the equation the assaulting teams shifted up a gear in their urgency of preserving personal safety by neutralising the shooters. Going against all instinct they held their path and dashed towards the threatening report of gunfire.

In the swirling grey smog, Li was the first to identify a guard firing his weapon blindly at the cascade of noise. She silenced his desperate actions with a single stroke of her baton, which collected his head and delivered it with momentum into the hard concrete floor. Li was recoiling from the blow to find another target when she was shocked into stillness.

The hot lead of the bullet penetrated her body without warning and robbed her of anything but pain. A grey wad of heavy metal punched a hole in her skin, displacing muscle and tissue to push a path deeper into her body. Its cavitation crept deeper as the transfer of energy from the bullet forced flesh aside until it finally struck bone. A tidal wave of pain washed over Li as the momentum of the bullet carried it straight through bone and finally came to a stop in her aching tissue.

Her legs caved in underneath her and she screamed in an agony unlike any other. It was as though a superheated rod had been stabbed through her leg and simply left there to burn her up from the inside out. Li clutched her thigh tightly as if that would stop the unimaginable pain or the steady leak of blood from the bullet wound. Her scream continued, trapped in her mask while her vision began to fade as she slowly slipped into the comparative bliss of unconscious.

* * *

><p>A muffled high-pitched scream, so different to the masculine ones earlier struck Paulo like a bullet of his own as he realised it belonged to one of his friends. He tossed up the safety arm that held him in the bobcat's canopy and slung himself from the rollcage. No sooner had he hit the ground then a pistol round whistled past his head as sporadic fire continued from the not-so incapacitated men.<p>

"_Dios_," Paulo muttered in Spanish and slid to take cover behind the bucket of his vehicle, as more rounds slammed into the thick tyres and sturdy metal of the loader. His eyes desperately tracked the twenty odd metres to the building where all the action was happening. The area of dead ground between the two points boiled with stray rounds as the enemy focused their blind fire in the direction of the Bobcat. Paulo sat back in frustration against the bucket, unable to help his friends until the shooters were silenced.

* * *

><p>Hex ran in a hurried crouch through the dusty building amid the confusion of gunfire and close quarters combat.<p>

His attire was similar to his friends, with a construction mask coupled with a black scarf to cover his face; a pair of sunglasses nestled deep in the folds of material protected his emerald eyes. In one hand he carried his police style baton, at the ready to combat any resistance, his jacket pockets weighed heavily with equipment.

Ignoring his other friends, Hex focussed on his objective and cut left immediately after entering the building, in following the wall he quickly found his way to the doorway of the only other room.

The room where Amber was being kept.

* * *

><p>Dimitri Ivanovich had managed to charge through the doorway prior to the explosion, his worries about the security of his hostage overriding any concern he might have had for his henchmens wellbeing. The explosion had knocked both him and the remaining guard off their feet as Hex's cement bag explosive had detonated spectacularly in the other room.<p>

"What the hell was that?" The guard asked his boss uncertainly with an East European lilt.

"I've got no idea comrade, it sounded like some kind of explosion." The mob boss admitted drawing his pistol and turning back to face the door with his security.

Neither man saw the smile of hope that illuminated their prisoners face. _Explosions, chaos, confusion; to me that can only mean one thing._ Amber decided with her morale rising by the second,_ Alpha Force._

Straining her ears to catch any sounds from outside, her spirits soared as she heard mob enforcers moaning in pain. _They have finally found me and must be coming in to rescue me! _Amber rejoiced in revelation.

Her spike in morale plummeted as the bark of gunfire started in the other room and peril gripped her heart. The idea of her friends in the middle of a firefight with the local Russian mob terrified her and struck her with the sudden wish that they hadn't even attempted a rescue. _I'm not worth this kind of trouble,_ she thought silently with her eyes squeezed tight as the intensity of gunfire increased. A scream echoed from the other room that she was certain must have belonged to her friend and the tears began to spill down her cheeks.

With eyes creased shut she never witnessed the door creak open a crack or the shielded eye that peered in.

Ivanovich was still debating a course of action with his guard when their attention was drawn to the floor by a metallic tinking noise. Their eyes drawn down, they both had a second of fascination to stare at the cylinder that had skittered through the door to rest near their feet. Neither man had time to react before the grenade exploded in a brilliant starburst of light and sound. Both men screamed in agony as they were thrown into the walls by the concussion wave, their eardrums burst, shrilling with a high whistle and their vision reduced to blinking white dots.

Through reduced hearing they heard a second dull thump as the door was kicked in on its hinges and Hex stormed into the room. He looked like some kind of haunting spectre with his whole body covered in the gritty grey powder, his face and eyes undistinguishable from the material wrapped around his head. The wraith quickly assessed the two men as temporary disabled before he strode over to a dazed Amber and flicked a short blade from his pocket.

"Hex!" Amber exclaimed dizzy with unrestrained relief and joy, having recognised the boy by his size and stride alone.

He responded by silently wrapping an arm protectively around her shoulder and tenderly pulling her head in to rest against his body. A combination of the adrenaline and something else, caused pounding beats in Hex's chest. A wave of relief washed over him upon finding Amber alive, but his temper flared noticing her state. Her pretty face bore signs of a beating and her flank was rapidly going purple in colour where she had been kicked. He was a little pleasantly surprised and embarrassed to find her just in her underwear but he was sure there was a rationale reason behind that too.

With great reluctance on both sides, Hex held this one-sided embrace for only a moment before he got back to business. His breathing sounded noisy in the mask beside Amber's head as he worked at her bonds, slitting through the leg restraints first before reaching to start on her hands. She felt giddy with excitement as she realised her proximity to freedom and the end of her ordeal. Her joy peaked as she realised that in mere moments her hands would be free and she could properly embrace her saviour.

The excitement turned sour as she noticed the form gathering itself from against the wall.

"Hex!" She screamed in warning, triggering a sharp spasm of pain in her flank.

Ivanovich shakily took aim from a crouch and fired at the teen with his large pistol.

Hex snapped his head up from his work with the alert and in a split second he took in the picture of his aiming opponent. Running on reaction alone, he dropped everything and dived off to his right. Amber watched in disappointment as the small blade he had been using dropped to the concrete and slowly spun in place, discarded by the teen in his haste to move.

The heavy .45 slug exploded from the barrel with a confined roar, further deafening its master, and ripped across the small space.

* * *

><p>Separated from Li in the chaos, Alex and Camilla got stuck into putting down the ailing shooters for the count.<p>

In the chaotic storm of grit, Alex was guided to his first victim by the coughing fit they had as they reloaded their submachine gun. Sustained burstfire had bled through the magazine of the automatic weapon in a matter of seconds. This left the man defenceless as Alex slipped towards him in the shroud.

Each breath rattled loudly through his mask and he was bucketing sweat from the fast pace of the assault but somehow Alex still managed to chamber his weapon at the shoulder for a decent strike. Some primal part of the brain that recognises when it is being hunted triggered the crouched man to turn around, just as the blow was hurtling towards him.

Because his opponent turned Alex's intended hit to the head missed and instead, more devastatingly, caught his foe in the throat. The cartilage of the larynx crumpled under the extreme force that was applied to it by the heavy baton and air entry was immediately cut off. Making a horrible retching, gasping sound the man collapsed forward on his knees clutching his ruined throat. A whistling stridor was all he managed as he ineffectively tried to fill his scoured lungs with life sustaining air.

Blood seeped out around his fingers, indicating the severity of the damage to Alex who was forced to watch in disgust and regret. _God I didn't mean to kill him, _he repented in a fellow human being flounder towards such an ungraceful and painful demise changed something within Alex and he knew what he had to do.

His aching good arm brought the baton back up over his shoulder for a final blow of mercy to end another humans suffering. The doomed man saw his movement with eyes bulging in desperation, he lowered his head to expose his neck in a silent plea for mercy. Alex hesitated, struck by the man's acceptance of the inevitable. For a second he held the weapon in place, his resolve faltering until he was able to focus once more on the mercy he was delivering.

Finally he swung his hand down as hard as he could bringing the baton to an arch, ending at the exposed neck right up at the base of the skull. Alex closed his eyes, when he felt the strike connect with a nauseating crunch. He didn't want to witness, once more the moment when consciousness separated from body with its final breath. The traumatised teen from Northumbria opened his eyes once more and carefully avoided looking at the deformed corpse at his feet.

He felt sick to his stomach and realised that he had bent his baton into a rough 'C' with the force of his final euphonising blow. His ears seemed deaf to the gunshots that clattered and ricocheted around the room, friends and enemies caught up in a mortal struggle. He felt vaguely aware of the dull ache, pulsating in his wounded arm as he stood stock still in the tableau of disorder.

A girls muffled shout of his name broke Alex from the darkened mental embrace of death, the bony hands of the reaper releasing him so he could once more help the living.

Somewhere in the settling dust his girlfriend had gotten separated from him and needed his help. This thought gave strength back to his senses and powered his legs to push him in the direction of the cry.

* * *

><p>Camilla cried once more to her boyfriend as she tried ineffectively to remove the man who held her pinned to the ground. His legs straddled either side of her and with his superior weight and strength she was unable to free herself. The man was completely blind with the cement dust caked firmly in his eyes and stuck to his body wherever moisture had tracked. His breathing landed hoarse and heavy on Camilla as the man fumbled blindly for his fallen weapon with one hand and held her still with the other.<p>

Tears of frustration were cemented onto the girls face at her seemingly hopeless situation, she had managed to knock the gun off the blinded man easily enough but then he had managed to grab her. In her panic she called out to everyone; Li, Paulo, Hex, even Amber.

Someone, anyone to help her.

The wheezing guard's hand finally closed on the weapon and he sat up in triumph with his prize, bringing the weapon around to bear on the unfortunate girl.

With so much regret at having her life end so soon, Camilla tried to slow her racing heart and prepare for the solace of death.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N-** Sorry for the delay on this chapter guys, I had a few structuring issues. Apologies aside this chapter is dedicated to the collection of new readers the story has picked up recently and, as always to my other diehard readers who have been with it from the start. Enjoy.

**-Grey.**

* * *

><p>Alex stumbled through the waist high smog of grey desperately trying to find his friends. The dim light from the ceiling had been destroyed in the explosion and the distant street lamps only fought the darkness faintly. Shadows flickered and jumped in the lowlight confusing the teen as to what was real and illusion. Voices cried out and called in the confusion, he was certain that one of the cries earlier had belonged to Li.<p>

With his head spinning and haunted by ghosts of the dead, the dying and the living, Alex struggled on to try reach his friends. He could have been staggering for what was only seconds or minutes before he was hit from behind by a shadow incarnate, a glancing blow that made his already fuzzy head blur like the static on a badly tuned television. Raising both arms in instinctive defence, he felt a tremendous sear of pain in his wounded arm that caused a dark vignette to close on his vision.

Through tunnelled sight he got a faint glimpse of the man who had struck at him with the butt of his empty VZ-61 submachine gun.

"Skorpion." Alex mumbled in his addled state, remembering the name of the rough Czechoslovakian weapon as it was drawn back for a second hit.

The man holding it had obviously seen better days, his eyes were red and grey, bleeding from the effort it took to remove most of the grit from his eyeballs. Revenge and anger were all that motivated the mobster as he ignored the extreme amounts of pain that threatened to overwhelm him.

Beyond the human limits of exhaustion and pain, Alex couldn't muster the strength to fight and instead stumbled backwards to fall on his butt. With the tunnel getting longer in his vision, light and sight beginning to fade he quietly hoped he had made a difference that maybe his friends would survive at the very least. _What a terrible idea this assault was, _he reflected in his fleeting seconds, _I was never fit to lead anyone. _With this final sombre thought he shut his eyes, wondering what the other side held and embracing in shame his punishment for his poor decisions.

It was a full second before the body was violently robbed of its life.

* * *

><p>It was killing Paulo inside having to take cover behind the squat body of the Bobcat, while his friends inside closed with the enemy. Sensing a lull in the gunfire, He picked up his courage from his boots and sprinted for the smoking hole in the side of the building.<p>

His pupils dilated in the deepened darkness, trying to make use of even the smallest traces of light to improve his vision. Paulo was forced to rely on his other senses to find his friends in the darkness. To his immediate left he heard the distinct skitter of metal on concrete as a weapon was being recovered. Making his safety a priority, Paulo shuffled towards the sound uneasily in the weakening light.

His eyes finally made out a seemingly seated figure that he didn't recognise; they were cradling an automatic handgun of some kind. Warning signals flashed in his head as he noticed the pinned blond by her shapely legs that protruded out behind the kneeling man.

Seeing what was about to happen Paulo burst into action.

His mind quickly disregarded the taser in his pocket because of the risk it would pose to his friend who was entangled with the enemy. Making do with raw strength instead, he approached from the flank, trapping his unwary opponent's two wrists and dragging back towards himself, ensuring he kept the muzzle of the weapon up.

The blind fighter had no idea what was happening and fully depressed the trigger, unleashing a savage torrent of fire upon the rest of the room.

Paulo found more strength with a roar, as he ripped the blind opponent away from his prey. The primal cry fortified his effort so he could drag his opponent back by his wrists while keeping the deadly firearm facing away from his friend on the ground.

In the murky shadows created by the cement sands, Paulo watched out of the corner of his eye as a figure crumpled under the weight of stray gunfire they received. His already overloaded mind refused to acknowledge the death, as he focused his own attentions on grappling with his opponent.

With the submachine gun running dry into a series of empty clicks, Paulo popped an elbow back into the gunman's face. His indulging elbow slotted straight back into the oppositions jaw, fracturing it on impact and stumbling his foe backwards. Disregarding the empty weapon in his opponent's hand, Paulo released the gun hand and followed up his elbow with a powerful cross to the broken jaw. His mocha fist strafed the already damaged bone and carried it sideways, knocking out his opponent with the severe displacement of the structure.

The blinded, now unconscious assailant disappeared into the knee height mist of cement dust that hovered above the floor.

More particles were stirred up with each step as Paulo slowly made his way back to Camilla, wading through the unknown. He abruptly tripped on an unseen obstacle in the darkness that oppressed the final few feet of the floor. Paulo managed to bring his hands in front of his body prior to impact, to break his fall and he felt a soft form pad his shins as he toppled.

Noticing the consistency of his crash pad as unusual, Paulo waved away the cloud of dust to get a better look. His chest seized in constriction at the unmoving, dark haired Asian girl who lay half underneath him.

"Li! Wake up!" Paulo screamed in a frightened desperation as he shook his dear friends shoulder and shouted in vain.

Li's ashen face was contorted with pain even in its unresponsive state, a low moan escaped her lips and her injury became apparent as Paulo noticed the sticky substance he now sat in.

It was Li's blood.

* * *

><p>The unaimed torrent of bullets ripped through the large room, shattering the peace with its echoing roar and sharing death by virtue of velocity.<p>

The executioner towering over Alex instantly disappeared in a shower of blood and shredded flesh, as he took the brunt of his fellow guards blind, extended burst of gunfire. A hail of a dozen bullets tore his flesh from bone, severing vital blood vessels and neural pathways with a brutal efficiency. The end result could not be described as vaguely human, instead a pockmarked, blood soaked and bare boned bundle of flesh stood in its place.

On unrecognisable legs, the gruesome mass slumped sideways with a wet thump, as it was released by the weight of firepower that kept it aloft. The henchman's corpse came to it's chilling halt mere feet from where Alex sat and in the poor light and murk he was tortured by the image of the broken form with its multiple disfiguring, bullet wounds.

In noiseless disgust he backed away to his feet, an overburdened effort that was only achieved by a healthy appalled fear.

_Two more seconds and I would have been the dead one,_ the traumatised teen realised slowly, the thoughts bubbling through to his consciousness sluggishly.

Feeling cold and extremely dizzy from the exertion of standing, he became vaguely aware of familiar voices on the other side of the room. Shuddering at the spreading chill on his body and the pulsing pain in his wounded arm, he started weakly staggering towards the sounds in the gloom that he associated with his friends. He tried to call out to his mates but his long displaced mask ensured that his mouth and throat were bone dry and incapable of anything but a dry hoarse whisper.

* * *

><p>Hex wrestled for control of the still firing, silver weapon in his foes hands, keeping the gun at arms length as though he was engaged in combat with a cobra. The more experienced skirmisher of the two pushed with bull like strength to try and force the pistol to face the troublesome teen. A snake's venom is limited though and Hex weathered the storm as his ears rang worse and worse with each resounding shot that was fired, grimly trying to hold on until the ammo was spent.<p>

Zips and whistles pieced the steady retorts of gunshots as stray rounds ricocheted off hard, uneven surfaces and bounced around the room. Amber's disabled guard grunted in pain and tensed up as a rebounding bullet, the round passing right in front of the preoccupied girl, struck his prone form. A growing puddle of crimson lapped at her sneakers within seconds, giving her an indication as to the shot mans prognosis.

Bearing down together, eye to eye, Hex faced off with Ivanovich, their foreheads almost touching, their arms tangled off to one side in a struggle to control the devil's right hand.

With a savage, animal like movement, the Russian mobster lunged forward with his head snapping his jaws at the teen, his teeth held just short of raking the boy's face. The hacker recoiled in disgust at the sudden dirty attack and was powerless to watch as triumph gleamed in his cunning opponents eye.

With the newly created space, the deadly villain threw his body back and using this momentum, dragged both of their arms back in between them. Hex had a moment of realisation and terror as the barrel of the weapon traced an arch across his chest and the predator smile grew on his foes face.

Ivanovich's thick finger closed on the trigger, initiating the action of the firing pin within the pistol.

Time slowed to a crawl and Hex was in a miracle moment able to meet Amber's eyes as he resigned himself to his fate. She stood frozen in place, her bonds forgotten in an instant as the man that mattered the most to her in the world stood aligned with a gun. Her swollen lips mouthed the words she had wanted to admit to him for so long as tears and disbelief clouded her sight.

Split seconds don't last long enough for emotion to strike and feelings lost out to time, as the trigger was fully depressed into its furrow.

* * *

><p>Camilla found her feet quickly at Paulo's choked cry of panic and desperation. Stiff and sore she still managed to bound over to the gently sobbing teen who was now applying firm pressure to Li's wounded leg.<p>

"She's been shot!" He croaked weakly in acknowledgement of her presence.

Something solidified in Paulo's brain as his fingers were quickly soaked through with blood. Paulo consciously severed the emotional ties to his friend with a grim resolve, which finally allowed his brain to kick-start into thinking clinically about the problem at hand.

He felt the cold fear of loss and helplessness subside as he was overtaken by a warming sense of purpose and an underlying predisposition to finding and fixing problems. This nurtured state of mind was the mindset in which Paulo transitioned to when he was working on a vehicle or patient and he welcomed it as the clarity of thought that might just save his friend. It was often made more difficult to achieve this nirvana when there were particularly strong emotions attached to the patient and Paulo was so grateful he could find it now when he needed it most.

With a steadying breath he turned to Camilla, his eyes burning not with tears but determination and duty.

"Keep pressure on her leg, right here, where my hand is and as hard as you can manage." He ordered, his voice dropping an octave with responsibility.

Li writhed in agony underneath her hands when Camilla firmly pushed down on the wound but she maintained the pressure on it anyway. Gunshots from the other room sounded distant and were ignored by the group as they focused on their own issues.

From the pocket of his dark cargo trousers Paulo drew his pair of clothing shears and sliced open the trouser leg around Camilla's hands to reveal the injury site. Considering the bleeding he realised that the blood loss was a lot less then he originally thought and that the blood was darker, halted to a trickle rather then a spurt or gush. _Not arteriole, _he concluded firmly, quashing the jump of elation inside of him as he mentally declared the wound not as serious as his original assessment indicated.

He allowed himself a fleeting moment of relief before continuing his examination of the injury site.

No exit wound was present but he did notice that the leg was extremely swollen and slightly deformed. _The femur is probably broken too,_ Paulo decided critically, knowing that the long bone fracture had the potential for serious internal blood loss.

A hoarse groan behind him distracted Paulo from further cutting up Li's trouser leg to make a bandage.

Acting on instinct he drew his stun gun and leapt between the girls and the noise. It wasn't a threat that stumbled through the darkness towards him with a shuffling zombie gait though.

It was Alex.

* * *

><p><strong>Click.<strong>

The sound of the firing pin engaging an empty chamber was the noise of the London hacker's salvation.

With a second chance at life, strength coursed back into Hex's limbs.

Without thinking, he raised both of his opponent's hands up with his to clear the empty weapon up past his head. With his opposition facing him their arms at shoulder height, Hex released his shared grip and pivoted his body to face the same direction. At the same time he slid his right hand past his opponents flank and around to rest in the small of his back, a grip maintained by friction. His left hand clasped the villains right wrist and drew forward in a continous pull that dragged the criminals weight to rest on Hex's hip. By bending his knees he incorporated a drop into the circular momentum he had generated, this hauled Ivanovich onto Hex's hip by his draw on the trapped arm and the lift from behind.

The mobster was yanked from his feet as his body formed to the hackers back, before being spectacularly thrown over top of him.

The smile this successful technique generated on Hex was further stretched at the massive impact of the greedy Russian on the bare cemented floor.

The rough O Goshi landed the mobster solidly in the growing puddle of death, which radiated from the pitiful, mortally wounded guard in the corner. With a sticky splash the portly man's lungs were emptied of air and his brain further rattled by the whiplash of his head against the concrete.

Hex was not finished yet though; dragging the filthy criminal back up by his lapels he slammed him roughly against the wall, ensuring that the man remained winded and stunned.

With a feral growl from between his teeth, the hacker then proceeded to lay into the pinned Russian, raining blow upon savage blow onto his body. Punches, slaps, elbows and knees, the furious teen methodically threw them all, one after another, unleashing all the pent up anger and frustration of the last couple of days. His relentless assault met steadily weakening resistance from his victim, as bone brutally battered bone and the stationary structures gave way under the force.

Blinded by a haze of emotion Hex suddenly became aware of Amber calling his name in a frightened voice, imploring him to stop before he killed the man. Ribs cracked under one final merciless punch, as he found his self control in the girls pleading tone. He tossed the broken criminal back against the wall and treated him with a disgusted look that Hex reserved for only the lowest forms of scum, before turning to Amber.

Ivanovich weakly slid down the wall, his face and body a crooked mess of bruises and broken skin from his pummelling. There he came to rest beside the other dispatched bad guy in an uneasy, barely conscious slump.

* * *

><p>"Alex!" Two very different voices shouted at the same time as the lad from Northumbria collapsed to a halt in front of them.<p>

An incomprehensible, mumbled response escaped Alex's throat as he warily faced the ground without even the strength to lift his head. Drained like a flat battery, his friend's concerned questions fell dully on his ears and he was barely able to muster a reply as he resisted the encroaching darkness. Camilla reluctantly kept her position and pressure as her worried eyes surveyed her fallen boyfriend. Paulo however was free to abandon his bandaging efforts to help his friend.

Finding him relatively sluggish and confused to verbal and pain responses, the Latin medic started to search for the cause. It didn't take much of a search to notice the steady stream of bright blood that tracked down Alex's wounded arm. Spurned into action by a bleed that was actually life threatening, Paulo dragged the wounded arm into the air and squeezed it tightly between his legs while he quickly fashioned a tourniquet from the sling of his fallen opponents submachine gun. All the while, grey cement was caked grittily to everything, the slowed stream of blood from the wound, the lazy trail that marked Alex's journey and the sweat soaked faces of his two concerned friends. Camilla wordlessly bandaged the quelled bleed under her hand with strips of fabric; she focussed all her effort on the task so as not to dwell on her boyfriend's current state.

It took a few minutes but Paulo finally leaned back from his critical patient to reassure his fellow first aider. "I've controlled the bleeding for the moment but he is in pretty bad shape." Pausing he looked over at the hastily bandaged Li, where she lay in a shivering grimace of pain. "They both are," he amended grimly.

In all her first aid experience with the UN Camilla had not seen many patients this sick and she deferred to the more experienced medic. Dreading and secretly fearing that she knew the answer already, she asked the million-dollar question.

"Are they going to make it?" She breathed, unable to verbalise the word 'die' in case she invoked it by mere mention.

Paulo met her sensitive eyes with his own deep brown expressive ones. Sadness and regret faced her as he disregarded the luxury of delivering false hope.

"If we don't get them both to a hospital very soon then no Camilla, they won't make it." He honestly admitted, jousting any impression that she had established otherwise.

Staring down at his two critical patients, he morosely drew his cell phone and punched in the number for an ambulance.

"Come on Hex, hurry up buddy." He wished to himself as he waited for the line to connect and watched the door to the other room, which had suddenly delved into silence.

* * *

><p>Having finally cut through her bonds, Amber held her side painfully where she been kicked, looking incredibly vulnerable in just her underwear as Hex turned to face her.<p>

In his own quiet gentlemanly way, Hex averted his eyes out of respect and painfully shrugged off his well-weathered leather jacket. He wrapped the heavy garment snugly around her shoulders, covering her up and pulling her into a tight embrace. They stood like a pair of statues, coated in the grey dust from head to toe, their clothes filthy, bleeding from scrapes and scratches. An overwhelming sense of security enveloped Amber as she stood encased in his strong arms, her pain and discomfort forgotten in his solid presence.

The moment of peace and security was destroyed by the haunting spectre of a familiar villain rising slowly from the ground.

In his one good hand he held a fresh black pistol, the faint sheen coating of blood suggested that its owner was the one exsanguinating in the corner. Crafty and resourceful to the end, the mob boss pointed the borrowed weapon at the huddling couple who had spun at once to face him. Hex positioned himself between Amber and the gun, quietly noble in even the darkest hour.

"This ones loaded." Ivanovich seethed in promise through a mouth of broken teeth and without a moment's further hesitation he aimed through swollen, damaged eyes and opened fire on the pair.

A cruel explosion of gunfire compounded itself in the confines of the small room, seeming to double in resonance.

With an explosion of blood, Amber felt Hex stumble back into her, the brave hacker dead silent as usual, this time in shock at having been shot.


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N- **A happy new year to you all! Sorry for the slow update, new years & xmas is a busy time for my trade. Second to last chapter though, so here it is!

**-Grey.**

* * *

><p>Drops of blood seemed to fall from Hex's bent body in slow motion as Amber ignored the tearing in her side, her wounded friend and focused on dealing with the imminent threat.<p>

A second round clipped past her as she brazenly charged and behind her a fleshy impact sounded and was followed by a gritted scream of pain as Hex was hit by another round. Amber's hands closed around a pistol for the second time that night and she fought for control, once more in déjà vu of her earlier struggle with Miguel.

Hopefully this time, things ended better for her.

Blood soaked through the bandage on Amber's wrist as the muscles in her forearms contracted in the effort of keeping a grip on cold heavy weapon. Deafening rounds erupted to the side of her head as she held herself clear of the deadly lead spitting muzzle.

Amber heard no further cries from Hex, whether that was a good thing or not she was unsure. Concern for her wounded friend and a long night of pent up anger gave her courage in her movements and lent power to her tired limbs.

The wounded Russian fought the bold girl with his last reserves of strength, but was overcame by her spirit and the pummelling he had recently received.

Stumbling backwards on his dead comrade, Ivanovich's grip loosened on the pistol as Amber fell on top of him and the weapon discharged one final time. The cold, lead herald of death punched through his broken ribs with ease before the barrel floated free from its temporary halt against his chest, the damage done.

An autopsy would later show that a single 9mm bullet entered Dimitri Ivanovich's chest just below his 6th intercostal space to drive through on an upward angle. It proceeded through to rupture the left ventricle of his heart, killing him almost instantly from the massive cardiac trauma and the irreversible disruption to circulation it caused.

Amber of course, could know none of this; all she witnessed was the discharge of the weapon into the stout chest of her falling opponent as they tumbled through the air.

The body that broke her fall was a relaxed one, having expended its grip on life and shuffled off the mortal plain almost straight away.

* * *

><p>Amber pushed off the corpse without a second glance or a hint of remorse, all her thought and concern was for the teen behind her.<p>

She found Hex behind her sprawled at a sitting, clutching his right arm as if it were a newborn baby, his clenched teeth and strained face indicating his obvious pain. A crimson cloud had spread across one side of his dark shirt.

Amber pushed her forehead against his and her hands explored his body searching for the entry and exit wounds. Her fingers and his breath caught as she found the bleeding track that traced his flank, evidence of the glancing blow he had received from one of the bullets. _Just scraped him, a narrow miss and another scar, _Amber concluded in relief. When she had first seen the bloodstain spreading on his shirt she had immediately feared the worst, what she had just found was not serious.

His arm was a whole different matter, a messy wound that carved through his forearm flowed with blood in a steady stream and striations of raw muscle were visible through the open wound. Hex felt light-headed, almost drunk from the surreal amounts of pain that were radiating from his forearm. Jagged shards seemed to gouge into his flesh from around the wound but they paled in comparison to the direct injury left by the bullets wake.

The immense destructive energy of the bullet had created a cavity from one side of his arm through to the other; to make matters worse it was not simply a straight line either. Where the bullet had entered on the top of his right arm was a small hole slightly smaller in diameter then a small coin, the thin creek of blood that leaked from it was in no way an indication of the damage that had been dealt. Unseen was the displacement and shearing of tissue that the high velocity projectile had caused in its journey.

On the underside of his arm was the location of the exit wound.

Unlike the entry wound, this hole was much larger and messier due to the change in the force profile, which occurred with the bullets initial impact and travel through Hex's body. Through the ragged hole a bare lace of white tendons could be seen stretching and contracting among the steady flow of blood, as the agonised teen reluctantly tried to clench his fist in experiment.

Amber felt physically sick at the sight of the gruesome exposed anatomy and she pressed Hex's hand firmly over top of it to cover up the larger hole.

Surges of pain sparked through his newly cavernous arm distorting his vision with the intensity of it. His quickly draining colour was hastened when he looked down and noticed that his injured arm bowed excruciating in the middle around his firm grip. Trying his best to support the unnaturally bowing limb, Hex slid the wrist of his other arm under his paling hand to help keep it in alignment.

The distant sounds of sirens screened through the squat building as Amber hooked under his good armpit and helped Hex to his feet. The teen was absolutely filthy, covered in blood, both his own and that of others. Gritty cement dust had settled onto ever surface and made their sweat stained faces stiff and unresponsive.

"Broken," Hex hissed in diagnosis through a painful grimace as Amber gently helped cradle his wounded arm, squeezing firmly as she did so to try and slow the bleeding.

"No computer games for a while huh?" Amber panted dryly with her breath stolen by her painful flank. Hex looked up at her with an appreciative grin despite his pain, for her not making a big deal out of the injury or being too grossed out. A pulse thumped heavily in his temples and he took a moment to brace himself for the agonising act of further movement.

Slowly the pair limped together to the door, their arms linked in mutual support, eager to leave the room of death behind and reunite with their friends.

"Just kill me now." Hex moaned, sweating fiercely from a combination of pain, blood loss and the thought of being unable to use his computer.

Amber's ragged breath arrived in spurts on his bare neck as she struggled to move and converse while enduring her painful fractured ribs.

"I knew you would come." She uttered, out of breath as they finally made it to the door and stopped to regather their strength. Despite the circumstances she leaned deeper into his shoulder and planted a lingering dry kiss on his cheek.

Filled with regret, Hex resisted the temptation to stop and turn the kiss into something more and instead focussed on pushing the door open with his one good shoulder.

His look said all she needed to hear and quite suddenly she didn't seem quite so concerned by her aching side as they entered the next room.

* * *

><p>The sight that met them was grim indeed.<p>

Li and Alex lay on the floor, their skin as grey as the cement that coated the walls, beside them Paulo and Camilla knelt looking exhausted and overwhelmed.

They were both in various states of undress as they cut strips of their clothes to better bandage their friend's wounds. The dust had finally settled and revealed the grisly aftermath of their earlier conflicts. Bodies, blood and gore strew the floor seemingly at random and the survivors themselves looked like corpses reanimated.

Cutting across any greetings Paulo got straight to the point. "Ambulances are coming but they are maybe too far away." He admitted forlornly to his newly arrived and equally wrecked mates.

Amber was split with her emotions, the joy of seeing her friends again, the fear for her two critically injured comrades and the guilt that they were in this state because of her.

"The main hospital is only a few blocks from here." She suddenly blurted out as she orientated to where they were by looking out the large hole in the wall.

Hope flowed back into the group in a cascade with the prospect of a plan.

"All right we drive ourselves." Hex decided for the group, unable to bear the thought of losing a friend because they waited for help to arrive. The idea of a bumpy van ride with his shattered arm was a grim thought indeed, but paled when put in the context of Alex or Li's enduring survival.

"It will probably be faster." Paulo agreed and he hefted Li's prone form over his shoulder in a sturdy fireman's carry. Whispered curse words tumbled from her lips, deteriorating into groans as she bounced away on his shoulder while he carefully made for the exit.

"Follow me!" He called, trudging through the hole in the wall at a fast walk, the first rays of the sun catching on his sweaty skin.

"Come on sleepy head up ya get!" Amber encouraged Alex shaking him roughly and sitting him up.

"Wha? Huhh.. Ammber?" He mumbled struggling to lift his burdened eyelids.

"Yea it's me, your plan worked and now we are getting out of here, so stand up you Geordie git." Amber commanded firmly as she and Camilla took a side each to help him up.

Alex's feet scrabbled to find purchase until they lifted him up and he was able to share his weight across them. His head abruptly lolled back on his shoulders at the sudden fluid shift caused by the position change and he passed out again.

"Come on, we'll just have to carry him out like this." Camilla decided, her concern for Alex was ever growing and it seemed the quickest way to extricate him. Slipping one hand each underneath his bottom they formed a makeshift carry chair with their linked arms, their second arms joined across his back as a backrest.

Satisfied that they were capable of moving Alex without him, Hex gingerly picked a path through the debris back to the van and the girls followed on.

* * *

><p>Knowing the local topography, Amber jumped in the driver seat straight away after offloading her patient into the back. Keying the ignition she stiffly crunched the van into gear and pulled out of the abandoned alleyway they had parked in.<p>

In the back, Paulo jerked forward with the sudden lurch of speed while he tore open the small first aid kit to get some proper bandages.

Holding Hex's useless arm, Camilla started bandaging the wounds just as carefully as she could in the moving vehicle. The stoic hacker shuddered and grimaced with every bump the van rode over and every slight change in direction. Silent tears of pain leaked gently down the creases of his winced face but he still refused to make a noise of complaint.

He felt as though his arm was doing enough screaming for the both of them.

Paulo worked on the two more critical patients, struggling to work within the cramped confines of the vehicle and further hindered by the instability of Amber's driving.

"Maybe we should have waited for the ambulance after all." Hex suggested only half jokingly when the van ran over yet another pothole in the road. The tight bandage on his arm wasn't doing anything to help the biting, punctured pain in his wrist and his mental fortitude was being pushed to the limit.

Paulo couldn't help but wonder if his friend wasn't wrong as he was rolled onto his butt once more by Amber taking another corner too quickly. A horn blared outside as she cut off some early riser on their way to work. Turning back to his patients he tightened Alex's makeshift tourniquet and got to work binding Li's injured leg to her good one.

Camilla had just tucked in the ends neatly on a crepe bandage that held dressings on Hex's arm when they heard Amber yell from up front.

"We're here!" She announced triumphantly before yanking hard on the steering wheel to send the van into a screeching right hand turn. Embarrassed by the rough turn, she palmed the van into reverse and in a more careful manner, backed the van up as close to the emergency department doors as possible.

* * *

><p>The entire emergency department erupted into action the instant Paulo walked through the automatic doors with Li lying limply in his arms.<p>

Gurneys were rushed over for the two critical patients as the entrance boiled over with doctors and nurses.

Alex and Li were wheeled into separate resuscitation bays where the practiced medical teams began hooking up various monitors and performing a myriad of assessments. Hex was guided into a wheelchair and carted off to a side room for a specialist examination of his damaged hand. Amber of course went with him, presumably to hold his unbroken hand during the process.

That left only Paulo and Camilla to haunt the hallway outside the resus area to try and catch snatches of information about their loved ones. The once friendly doctor finally got sick of their dogged persistence and assigned the pair a room with a bed each and ordered they get some rest.

"We will let you know if anything changes with their conditions." The man in the white coat assured them briskly, before ducking back into his medical bay to coordinate the treatment.

Resigned to his fate and suddenly feeling the press of exhaustion, Paulo had made himself comfortable and fell into a deep sleep.

In the bed opposite him sleep wouldn't come.

Camilla lay with her eyes open staring at the blank white ceiling, her mind in turmoil. Thoughts, memories and emotions tangled into a chaotic jumble, harsh ideas seemed to stick with her periodically as if her head was housing a tangled coil of barbed wire. Conclusions and concepts that she had been so comfortable with barely hours ago were raised again in doubt, re-examined with uncertainty.

The overriding theme or emotion that seemed to shroud all the rest of her thoughts was her worry for a certain teen from Northumbria. It seemed the only constant in her thoughts at the moment and the implications of that fact weighed heavily on her mind.

Distracted by the cacophony in her head, she barely noticed as Amber limped into the room timidly, treading lightly so as not to wake Paulo.

On becoming aware of the other girls presence she quietly called out to her.

"How's Hex doing Amber?"

Amber turned suddenly; unaware that the other girl had been awake she forced a hollow smile before answering.

"Hey Camilla I didn't realise you were still awake," She seemed to pause after the greeting; with a trembling lip she struggled to express what exactly was happening to Hex. "They gave him something for the pain but his arm is in pretty bad shape."

"Oh," was all the blond could find in reply to the unfortunate news.

"He's.. he's… he's in surgery now." Amber revealed, her voice warbling as she carried on into the room before coming to a halt at the side of Camilla's bed.

"The bones are shattered and a whole bunch of the nerves and tendons are damaged too. The surgeon in the consult was unable to say whether he would ever regain full capacity with it again."

Camilla didn't know what else to do so she pulled the distraught teen into a hug, allowing her friend to sob against her shoulder.

Amber appreciated the act of comfort in her time of need and felt slightly guilty that hadn't always been the most welcoming to the girl who had entered Alex's life.

"It was just so sad, the look on his face when the surgeon told him that, it was look of a defeated man, someone who's lost the most important part of his life. It's the first time I've ever seen Hex cry and I just felt so helpless to fix him." Amber recalled in stark desolation, the memory tearing her up inside.

"You did all you could for him Amber," Camilla reassured, "Hex is a tough guy, if anyone can bounce back from this it will be him. But it's not going to be easy and I think that's when he is really going to need your help."

Amber nodded at the truth in her words, taking hold of the seeds of hope they planted and watering them with her eyes.

"I'm not interrupting anything am I?" a soft voice asked from the door.

Both girls turned to see a tired looking ED nurse standing at the threshold holding a clipboard.

Amber determinedly wiped tears from her dark eyes before responding.

"No not at all, please you have news about our friends?"


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N- **A very special final chapter with a very special dedication to I Read Not Write, because she deserves it ;)

**-Grey.**

* * *

><p>The nurse consulted her sheet quickly before answering the girl;<p>

"Your friends Liang and Alexander have made it through the surgery without any complications. You can come see them now if you wish."

Dark murmurs encroached on Ambers mind at the mention of only two of their friends, she pushed through her deepest fears to approach the nurse and ask about Hex.

Seeing her concern, Camilla decided it was best that she wake up Paulo to go see the others.

"Hey Paulo, wake up." She called to the slumbering South American gently.

The tired boy on the bed rolled over to put his back to the bothering noise, lazily he mumbled something about letting him have just five more minutes sleep.

Camilla went closer to him and this time spoke right in his ear, "Li and Alex are out of surgery, we can go see them now."

Paulo's eyes flicked open in an instant, having been given the right incentive to do so. He quickly sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed, his bruised and swollen face warped into his indomitable wide grin.

"Well what are we waiting for then?" He asked innocently accentuating his accent as he always did when he tried to charm.

Paulo sprung off the bed and advanced towards the door where Amber was still captivated in a quiet conversation with the charge nurse.

As he got closer fragments of their conversation reached him.

"….A very difficult surgery…. High risk of…." The nurses soft voice drifted over, followed by Amber's, shrill with concern.

"But Hex is he….."

"…a little more time then the others… should be done soon." The tired looking nurse reassured the younger woman with a hand on the shoulder as Paulo and Camilla finally joined them.

"Lets go see Alex and Li." Amber declared in a false cherry voice that verged on breaking and without another word she lead their small party down the hallway and over to the elevator.

"Amber, what's happening with Hex? Why isn't he out of surgery yet like the others?" Paulo asked the dark shaking girl, whose presence seemed to fill the elevator.

Amber focussed on the numbers flashing by in the dial above their head, as she forced courage into her throat.

"His ah.. His surgery was a lot more difficult and precise then the rest so it takes longer." She finally uttered.

"Ah." Paulo grunted as if it made all the sense in the world and didn't quite explain why she was so upset.

"And," Amber continued sniffing back tears, "There were some complications."

Paulo felt his world crashing down around him as he considered all the different possible outcomes for his best friend. His mouth felt bone dry and his bouncy spirit was quickly suppressed by the thought of how empty his world would be without his friend, the quiet hacker.

Rasping on his words he felt compelled to further press the one other person who cared about Hex as much as he did.

"What sort of…complications?"

Paulo reached for Amber's hand to squeeze it in support, reminding the girl that she wasn't alone.

"They didn't say.." She mumbled at barely a whisper, closing her hand on his, grateful for the comfort of companionship.

In complete contrast to the mood in the elevator, a light ding sounded to signal they had arrived at their desired floor.

The three teens linked hands and walked out of the elevator to find their friends.

Or whatever remained of them…

* * *

><p>In the recovery ward of the hospital, there was a double room with two young patients who had just came out of surgery and been extubated. Gossip from the nurses on the ward suggested that the two teens in the room were very badly injured in some clandestine affair. Exact details of the injuries and conditions in which they had occurred were confidential but one of the doctors was able to confirm that it was a knife or a gun that inflicted the terrible wounds. The infamous status of the two new residents made it relatively easy for their three able-bodied friends to find them.<p>

Paulo entered the room first with silent footfalls, unsure if the inhabitants were asleep or not.

"Hey." Li rasped from the bed nearest the door as she spotted him.

Paulo turned to face the girl as the others sauntered into the pale room.

He was visibly shaken by how waxy Li's skin looked, so similar to the crisp white sheets she was cocooned in. Her eyes watched him in a lazy unfocussed manner, her senses held at bay by the multitude of analgesics she was dosed up with. Li's wounded leg was hidden from view by her sheets, presenting only as a cumbersome and elongated lump in the bed.

Across from her bed, the teen from Northumbria was still out to the world in a fretful sleep, his intense expression absent for once.

The three friends gathered at Li's bedside but Camilla continued darting her eyes to Alex instead.

"Hey _Chica._" Paulo cooed in a hushed tone as he brushed a hand to smooth her relaxed brow, before following it with a light kiss on her forehead.

"How's the leg?" He carefully asked, as the friends observed the various bags of fluid that hung from the hooks on the ceiling and connected to a pole mounted electronic syringe-driver.

"I'm part machine now," Li mumbled in a drug fuelled joke, "they stuck two metal pins in my leg."

"You're not in pain are you?" Amber asked her friend in concern, having noted Li's strained expression after releasing her from a reclined hug.

"Na just numb and fuzzy feeling," She slowly described and sighed deeply, "and I guess it's just going to be a while before I can walk again."

"Hey you'll be back on your feet in no time, all your gym work is bound to help with that." Paulo encouraged her; he knew the thought of staying still for so long must burden her greatly.

"Sorry guys I won't be on any missions with Alpha Force anytime soon." Li concluded dejectedly, her head bowed sadly at her imprisonment to rest.

"That goes for me too," A small voice added in with a Geordie accent.

* * *

><p>"Alex." Camilla squealed at her boyfriends return to consciousness and rushed around to his bed.<p>

Awkwardly she hugged the haggard teen around his elevated arm and pressed a light kiss on him, which he weakly returned. Paulo and Amber bustled around to add their embraces before returning to a neutral standpoint between the two beds.

Alex's drawn face split in the ghost of a smile at seeing his friends again, a smile that was however, marred by a pending secret and a notable absence.

Alex seemed like he was going to say something more when the visitor's eyes were drawn to the door by a squeaking of wheels. Emerging through the doorway, in an oversized wheelchair, was a certain beloved hacker and the final member of the group. His right arm was snugly housed in a pink plaster and a tidy looking nurse pushed him along, flanked by two stern looking men in surgical scrubs.

Hex's face was transformed from a nauseous, downcast frown into the smallest of hopeful grins as he was reunited with the rest of Alpha Force.

"He insisted on coming straight here rather then returning to his bed after the surgery." The nurse behind him explained, with a fleeting look of knowing as Amber exploded forward from the mark to draw him into an embrace.

"Nice cast, very manly." Amber taunted the hacker, as she pushed herself away from him and tried to put up her preppy façade of strength.

Hex played along for her sake and shot back a pseudo-glare, which masked his own sadness and insecurities well. Secretly he feared what was left of his arm encased within the bright pink plaster shell. To him it represented weakness, the fragility of the human body and the distinct possibility that he may never regain full function. The cold virus that was every able-bodied persons nightmare threatened to overtake him.

"Did you pick that colour for him?" Paulo asked Amber from his perch on the end of Li's bed.

"Na it's probably payback from Alex for last time." Li suggested groggily from her sedate, semirecumbent position.

Alex chuckled remembering the amount of grief he had been given after famously receiving a pink cast when he broke his arm on their last mission. He had no pity for his friend's current circumstances and despite the low feeling Alex wore, he decided to get his digs in too.

"It's just _fabulous_!" Alex informed his friend, emphasising the final word with a camp lilt and an outrageous wave of his hand.

The room burst into laughter at the ridiculous homosexual stereotype that Alex was perpetuating. Hex laughed along with the rest of his friends and was glad for the light-hearted banter since it distracted him from the more serious issues at hand.

"You had better watch it," Amber warned the group as they suppressed the last of their giggles. "He might Hex out on the lot of you if the teasing keeps up!"

This brought about a whole new bout of laughter, as the teens observed the look of confusion and shock on the young hackers face.

"Wait have you guys been using …?" Hex started in outrage, his colour boiling over to match the shade of his cast.

"Your name as a synonym for raging out?" Li finished for him with a giddy giggle.

"Your name as a verb for performing an act of great violence in said rage?" Amber suggested with a wry grin.

"Your toothbrush because I forgot mine?" Alex confessed guiltily.

"Your palmtop to watch dodgy movies?" Paulo denied once again, with a pseudo-shocked expression at the implied accusation.

It was impossible to stay straight faced at the final two admissions and the ward was drowned in hysterics, which was only ceased as the two stern looking men in white coats cleared their throats loudly and held their arms up to draw silence.

"With all your group here we can now inform you of some serious recent developments." The first strict looking doctor gravely informed the room. At this, Amber looked up from her hold on the hacker, who was still fuming over the unlicensed use of his name.

Crouching to stay at Hex's height Amber dropped back on her heels to witness the doctor's news.

* * *

><p>The second doctor consulted his clipboard before coughing uncomfortably and carrying out his unpleasant announcement with a rigid formality.<p>

"At approximately 4:48 this morning John Richard Middleton ceased breathing, resuscitative efforts were commenced but at 5:12, Mr. Middleton was declared dead by the doctor on scene. Cause of death has been ruled as cardiac arrest secondary to massive head and chest trauma from a recent assault."

Looking up from his notes the man's firm expression softened to one of sorrow and pity, "I am sorry Ms Middleton but your uncle is dead."

Silence held the room in a stranglehold as the group absorbed the leaden news that had been laid on them. The contrast could not have been stronger from the minutes of earlier mirth.

Amber felt a distinctly familiar emptiness open in her once more, déjà vu of her parent's deaths and the moment that she had been informed of it. Her eyes held dry with no more tears left to forfeit, as she hung her head in despair. A large hand forced it's way between hers and she clutched to it like a lifeline, the only thing keeping her afloat on a suddenly overwhelming sea. Amber felt every ridge and whirl of the hacker's only good hand as it gently increased its pressure on hers supportively. Her shoulders heaved with sobs for the final member of her fallen family while the rest of the able-bodied members of the force huddled in to provide her with comfort.

The doctor carried on at a hurried pace to quickly deliver his remaining news so he could escape the uncomfortable grief of the survivors.

"Also, at approximately 5:20am the body of one Miguel Corboda was found in hospital examination room six. The obvious injuries present would suggest that the man died of exsanguination after his carotid artery and throat were slit with a bladed weapon. The Police have been called and security tapes are currently being reviewed in investigation of his murder."

This news was not greeted with any further grief, indeed for some in the room they had no grief left to spare. A pang of guilt wrought its way through Li's chemically slurred brain, as she remembered her promise of amnesty and protection to the former gardener. Another casualty at Alpha Force's hands.

With that final parting news the medical professionals departed the room, anxious to leave the intense teens to their own affairs. A recent message from a department of the Central Intelligence Bureau had discouraged them from asking further questions about the nature of the injuries that had been sustained by this particular group.

* * *

><p>Amber's eyes hung dark in her face as her friends held her and spoke comforting words. The sound reached her slow and distorted; incomprehensible. Her friends seemed to realise her addled state and backed off to their respective locations in the room to cope with the latest revelation.<p>

All but one.

The hand holding hers squeezed gently before its owners voice rang through loud and clear in her head.

"I chose this colour," Hex quietly confessed in a whisper right beside Amber's ear. Her gaze followed his to see that he was referring to the hi-lighter pink cast on his injured arm. Her sorrow-laden expression softened at his admission and Hex brought his jade pupils to meet hers.

"It's your colour I chose. To me it represented two hopes." Hex's voice cracked almost under the emotional strain but he continued all the same. "That I may someday regain use of this hand and that I can be right here beside you until I do."

A glacier of guilt tumbled into the depths of her sorrow. Wrapped up in a world of her own sadness, Amber felt like a terrible person for having forgotten about the fears and needs of the man she depended on. Her normally stoic friend was facing the prospect of losing the use of one of his hands and needed her support and strength for once.

Hex couldn't help but think he had overstepped the line this time, his timing terrible. With the short silence that followed, his powerful mind internally berated the more impulsive parts of him. _What the hell Hex? How can you be trying to have this conversation with her when her uncle has just died?_ He was about to speak again, say something to redeem his hasty words when she beat him too it.

"I guess I'll just have to keep holding this hand until the other one heals." She decided softly, lifting his strong left that still encased hers.

Hex's body swelled with fulfilment as he used the grip to draw Amber closer to him, at the barest volume he spoke again. "You know that I'm here for you?"

"Always." She uttered, sinking into their first and long overdue kiss.

It was simple in its origin, such a light sweet contact that two sets of lips had hungered for. Pressure and passion climbed as Hex released her hand to carefully cup her jaw; Amber reciprocated by sliding her arm around his neck. Her weight descended onto his seated form, slowly, with infinite care to protect her broken ribs.

Making out with swollen, split lips and bruised, broken bodies was a painful way to play out teenage passion and the two compromised with a tender embrace, in the now shared wheelchair instead.

From her position at the tail of Alex's bed Camilla smiled sweetly, happy for the new couple as she watched them settle into their joint position.

"About time." She heard Li mumble from her bed, Paulo leaned casually against wall beside her, beaming at his friends.

Flushed with the warmth that radiated from the happy pair, Camilla turned in her seat to enjoy her boyfriend's reaction to the fluffy moment.

She was surprised to find him standing beside the bed half dressed, struggling to pull on a pair of jeans one handed. His eyes were hard and set on the task; he didn't even notice her attention.

* * *

><p>"Alex what are you doing? You should stay in bed!" His plucky girlfriend accosted him.<p>

Alex looked up with leaden eyes as he buttoned his jeans and knelt to retrieve items from his daypack, his thin hospital gown lay on the ground where he had discarded it. While she watched, he looped and tightened his ever-present survival belt before awkwardly pulling on a t-shirt. His knife, she noticed was not hanging off of the belt for the first time she could remember.

Alex's left hip seemed bare without it's usual dark scabbard.

"I'm done. I'm out. I said I wouldn't be on any missions for a while." He explained neutrally, throwing his small bag over his good shoulder and making for the door.

He had made three steps before he hit his first obstacle.

Camilla.

"You're not well right now," She insisted determinedly, "Lets get you back into bed and we can discuss this more later."

His resolve faltered as he met her concerned eyes, tearing from the implications of his actions.

Alex shrugged off her wellmeaning hand from his chest.

"I'm well enough for this. Healthy enough to leave." He replied, hiding a wince and stepping past her to continue his path to the door. _You've always got to be strong. For Alpha Force. For them. For her. For you. _

Camilla fell by the wayside, brushed off by his simple callous move. Discarded like debris, she stood sadly to one side reeling in the aftermath of his decision.

Alex found Paulo blocking his way.

The second obstacle.

"_Amigo,_ you really want to leave Alpha Force? Can we talk about this?" Paulo enquired earnestly, his hands held up palms exposed to his friend.

Alex's eyes were flint as he cut down the South American with words.

"A lot of people dead because of us lately Paulo. Does that make you want to carry on?" He asked the teen dejectedly, his tone burdened with regret and sadness. _That was a low blow, the ones we killed weighed as heavily on him as the friends we lost. _

_Killing, for any cause never sat right with Paulo, so why didn't it bother me?_ Alex contemplated, even as he spoke the words.

Paulo slumped back as his friends truthful response hit dangerously close to home. He stumbled backwards to sit against the wall, unable to block Alex's path with a reasonable defence.

The Northumbrian took pause from the blow he had to deal on the sensitive Argentinean, before continuing for the door.

Li called to Alex from her bed, her tone enough to draw a halt from him.

The third obstacle.

The most physical of his friends creating a barrier with just her voice.

Guiltily he turned to face the Asian girl who was now sitting forward in her bed. Her eyes were sharp, not hazed by the drugs as they had been a moment ago.

"We've had to go to war Alex, I hate to say it, but people die in war, it's what happens." Li rationalised trying to provide some riposte to his earlier comments that had put Paulo down.

"Are you just going to give up on the fight? What happened to being a soldier?" She demanded.

Alex sighed again; hating the pain he was causing his friends by leaving but still adamant with his choice.

"We're teenagers Li, should we really be the ones having to fight the war?" He asked of her. "Maybe I was a little too eager to grow up and be a soldier."

_Maybe I discovered that being a soldier and taking another mans life was something that just came too naturally to me._

Like Paulo, Li found herself without an answer and wordlessly she sunk back into the bed, surrendering to the drugs once more.

Laden with anguish as he watched her slump, Alex turned on his heel and found Hex and Amber standing in his way in his way with linked hands.

Confrontation sparked from Amber as she forced her gaze to meet Alex's. Her russet pupils, still stained with sorrow bored into his, the better guarded.

Amber's sadness-tinged tone presented their argument and stopped him in his tracks.

"My uncle died tonight. We all almost went the same way and you think now is the time to pull the pin on Alpha Force?"

The raw emotion of loss was still strong in the couple and Alex fought the impulse to hug the pair.

Drawing on the reserves of his legendary determination, Alex answered her.

"Maybe if I had been a bit better at leading us.." He conceded to Hex with a bow of his head. Hex matched the position in shame at his actions and accusations from earlier that night.

"Maybe if I had left the group earlier, none of that would have happened." Alex admitted in dishonour, his head hung as he walked around the couple he could no longer bear to face.

He was at the doorway when a hand on his shoulder physically stopped him. Alex's resolution was fading with each intervention and he turned one final time with a good idea who was waiting for him. He was not disappointed to find the tenacious blonde with her eyes fixed on his in determination. The room full of friends watched in anticipation at their final chance of stopping Alex.

"Take me with you then Alex, I love you and I want to be with." She demanded of him, reaching up around his neck slowly, to draw her body tight up against his.

Alex took in the scene of surprised faces behind him before finally noting the daypack slung over his girls shoulder. He burned the feel of her curves pressed against his body into his mind, the sweetest pressure they created on him. Alex drifted his eyelids shut and breathed in her intoxicating honey scent, steeling himself for what would come next.

Camilla's lips sought his again once more, like they had downstairs, with a desperation born from need. Sweet mumblings tumbled from her mouth as she tried to reach his.

"You don't have to do this alone… I want to help you through whatever this is."

Feeling his body and mind responding to her words and touch, Alex tensed every muscle in his body. Feeling this change Camilla forced through his defences with one final effort and met his lips. Alex savoured the taste of her, a sweetness, like her smell that would always linger in his mind. It was with the last of his will that he broke the kiss and gently forced Camilla's face back with his good hand.

"I'm sorry Cammy, but I need some time away from everything and everyone to sort my head out." Alex whispered, his lips moved to touch her forehead instead as the sobs started to spasm her body.

Having effectively broken the girls heart, disavowed his friends and forfeited love and happiness Alex looked up.

"Goodbye my friends." He spoke simply and sadly, before stepping out the door quickly before they could see his own tears falling.

* * *

><p><strong>AN-** Finished :) Jeez a bit longer then the last one wasn't it? I apologise on the long wait for the update I had a bit of trouble getting the ending how I wanted it. It may still be tweaked a little. So what did ya think about the ending anyway? Hated it? Loved it? Wanted a twist ending where Camilla turned out to be a man? ;p let me know if ya want to.

Questions over, here are some answers to some of yours.

-More? Some of you actually want more? At this stage I'm saying maybe, a couple of ideas banging around at the moment. The end, in my mind does leave room for another, perhaps even a challenge fic? Any ideas for projects or works let me know I'm happy to consider.

-The what do I do thing again? Those of you that I have talked to and wanted to know about my occupation I will message about it like I did last time.

-Realism? Yup I vouch for the realism behind injuries sustained and the practicality of techniques or weapons mentioned in the text. I have used all the techniques/weapons, usually on real people and either seen, treated, incurred or delivered the injuries written about. And yes for the most part it was fun ;p

-I understand there are a few minor mistakes across the two fics so I'll be spending the next wee while fixing them up, it's a professionalism thing.

A big thanks to all those who have been following, even the quiet ones who are too shy to comment, that's cool too. A special shout out to my reviewers, critics and sometimes fans ;p DammitimmaD, Elledreamer, emmadactryl and I read not write. Makes it easier to write when ya know someone else is reading and enjoying it too ;)

Until next time…?

**-Grey. **


	30. Grey's Survival Guide: SelfDefence

**A/N- **Another sweet survival addon in Chris Ryan's style, A very rough overview on this topic since it is so huge. So much more stuff I wanted to add but this is the crux of it. Brutally honest and overly flippant in places, think of it as an educational piece as well as a bit of fun.

**-Grey.**

* * *

><p><strong>Grey's Guide to Self Defence and Surviving Violence<strong>.

Alpha Force regularly find themselves engaged in Close Quarters Combat (CQC) during their work all over the world. Luckily, with Li's help they have a rudimentary knowledge of how to defend themselves and have practiced doing this in a safe environment. Not everyone has that luxury to prepare them for interpersonal violence so what follows are a few tips and tricks to surviving from a seasoned fighter.

**Survival.**

Your goal in any violent situation should ultimately be trying to get through as unscathed as possible, anything else going through your head is secondary. The best way to avoid getting injured is to not be there when the punches are being thrown.

RUN AWAY! If the situation allows it, your best bet is to turn tale and run like the wind. There is no shame at all in just legging it and realistically it is the smartest course of action.

Alternatively, you may want to do something to defuse the potentially hostile situation. Sometimes this can be as easy an apology or buying the bloke another drink to replace the one you knocked over. If you got the gift of the gab (like me) try and talk them out of coming to blows, appeal to their reason and sensibilities without trying to sound condescending.

It may mean handing over your wallet and phone if that is what the confrontation is about. The point is that you get away unharmed. How much is your phone or wallet worth? Is it worth a permanent disability? How about getting stabbed? Didn't think so….

People have been killed for less in the past though, so consider surrendering it if you think it will placate your attacker. Money and possessions are replaceable, your health and life are not…

Some situations however will mean that running or peaceful negotiation are not an option. In this instance you may need to go into the pantry and get out those unopened cans of whip-arse that you have been saving.

Serving suggestion: in the face!

* * *

><p><strong>Assessment. <strong>

All jokes aside, gapping or yacking are out of the question so it looks like you are going to have to take action. Before you do anything you need to consider how much danger you are presented with, this will help you come up with an appropriate response (in the Laws eyes) to the threat you are faced with.

If you can, at some stage try and find out your country, state or hicktowns policy in regards to self defence as it varies according to location. Here in NZ all the prosecuting power lies with the bad guys it seems, regardless of how you respond, but in the States and many other countries things are a bit looser and there is a greater right to defend oneself.

Your threat assessment should be taking place from the instant your interaction begins with the other party, what you are trying to establish is the numbers, motive and potential of the attackers. Having this information will help you decide how best to defend yourself.

So consider:

**Numbers.**

How many of them are there? How many reliable friends have you got around? Are nearby bystanders likely to rally to their side or yours? Does he have a whole backseat of drunken mates, who have his back? The potential number of opponents is a really important factor to account for because it increases the danger tenfold.

Fighting an unknown opponent one on one is hard enough. If you are outnumbered then you are in serious trouble, it isn't like in the movies where the group dances around menacingly until you have knocked out his predecessors. They may just all go you at once or a couple will hold your attention while another kinghits you from behind.

Whatever they decide to do, it is all bad news for you and have three options really: Even the odds, get the hell out or be rapidly reduced to an amorphus blob of broken bones and internal bleeding.

**Motive.**

You know how many of them there are, now what do they want? What has started this trouble, why does this guy want you to eat pavement? Have you just rear-ended his car, did you look at his baby's momma wrong? Is this aggressor a mugger, a rapist, a psychopath out looking for a fight? By understanding their motivation for attack you stand a better chance of deescalating things.

The reason for the violence will also change the nature of their attack according to what their desired outcome is.

Examples; A mugger wants a distraction, usually a single stunning hit, to give them an opportunity to grab some loot and go. Most sexual attackers look to establish dominance through violence or the threat of violence so as to ensure his victims submission to his dastardly deeds.

A male on male conflict (The monkey dance) is also usually an act of dominance, to establish a social hierarchy. Accordingly, these hierarchy conflicts usually start with posturing and heavy words, many will not go any further. When they do, it is rarely serious as one guy is just trying to prove himself superior and this is usually achieved by knocking his opponent down.

You can see how a change in motive transforms the nature of the expected assault. Believe it or not, humans are actually pretty strongly hardwired, naturally and socially not to intentionally harm each other. It is usually when drugs and alcohol come into the equation that these lines are blurred and things truly become dangerous.

**Potential. **

Consider how much damage this person is likely to do. How physically capable are they and what are the possible repercussions of an attack? Realising quickly what is at stake will help justify how hard and dirty you fight. Are they armed, high or appear mentally unstable? All of these factors will increase how dangerous the person is.

Finally you need to consider your own abilities and resources that can be utilised against a threat. By realistically assessing your capabilities you can better find a way to handle the situation.

For example: if like me, you know you aren't a great runner (my legs are only made for kicking and stomping) don't try run if you think they will chase you. Rather then running and getting your arse beat down, talk your way out or stop him from being able to follow you.

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><p><strong>Defence.<strong>

Okay you have quickly sized up your opponent; it should only take a few seconds, now you need to decide how best to stop him. Depending on the level of threat you feel, it may be time to arm yourself at this point.

**Armed.**

Big danger, find or make a weapon. This is especially pertinent if your opponent already has one or if there is more then one aggressor. Defending yourself unarmed, against an enemy with a weapon is like running naked through a grizzly bear enclosure covered in BBQ sauce: you are just asking to end up in the morgue. Even the most experienced fighter would hesitate when confronted with an attacker armed with a decent blade or stick.

If you ever attended a self-defence class or trained in a dojo disarming opponents with weapons, just remember these magical techniques that work so well on the thick cushy mat have never been tried or tested against an actual angry, armed opponent. It is scary as hell in the real world and you are extremely lucky just to survive, trust me, I know. Personally, I'd rather take my chances with the bears, but that is partly just because I look so damn good naked and lathered up for a BBQ.

Don't get me wrong it is doable, especially against an inexperienced foe, but if you are not a fighter then it is a bit unrealistic. If you are a fighter, ignore this section and instead whip your attacker in the eyes with your recently won UFC champion belt.

For the sake of this lets assume you aren't Rocky and move on to utilising your own weapons for defence.

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><p><strong>Improvised Defensive Weapons (IDWs).<strong>

Someone once said that god is all around us. Excuse my blasphemy, but they were right, he is; in the form of everyday items and objects we can use to beat, choke and stab the violence out of an attacker. You don't have to be Macgyver to fill a sock with batteries and hit a guy with it. Batteries and spare socks are often in short supply in life threatening situations though, so I'll talk about some other items you may have on your person or handbag (or manbag, I'm not judging).

Forget the crap you read in the female safety pamphlet at the YMCA, the idea of poking your keys out between your fingers is laughable at best until you actually try hitting someone like that and break your hand. If the old carkeys happen to be all you have though, think about holding them downwards so the tips extend out the bottom of your closed hand. Like this you can actually get a decent Icepick stab or slash going on. Sounds impractical on paper, but the results speak for themselves when your attacker is screaming and holding a ruined, empty eye socket courtesy of your Toyota.

A tube of lipstick or deodorant can also be used to great effect simply by holding it in the same way as the keys, to create a hard nub at the bottom of your hand. Have a couple of centimetres poking out and admire the dents it leaves in skulls and chest walls. Any small cylindrical object can also simply be held in your fist to reinforce your closed hand blows.

If you don't carry pepperspray, mace or the like it is easy enough to improvise. As any one as inattentive as myself can vouch for, a decent spray of Lynx Africa or Rexona will leave your eyes stinging for hours. Don't try lighting it on fire that is just silly and risks the can exploding in your hand.

An amusing book I got my Ex-GF one unfortunate birthday was entitled stiletto Kung Fu, spoiler alert; the name was the best piece of advice in the book. Ladies, those six-inch heels of yours can deal some serious damage with a good stomp or if you take them off and hold them with the toes in your palm, heels out.

I could write whole chapters on more weapons you can improvise but instead just let me finish with your environment.

**Weapons From Your Environment.**

Look around you. A stray length of wood, a disused piece of pipe or that loose brick could be your saviour when the chips are down. Almost every wooden fence has a loose picket in it, if you can find it quick enough you may just have acquired yourself a nifty club. You can apologise for any vandalism later. Be aware of the objects in your environment.

Most violence occurs at night, in areas of high foot traffic and population like the bars and clubs; plenty of stuff for you to use there.

A bottle or pint can do some decent damage with a good hit and provide a good distraction for your getaway. If the bottle or glass breaks, no big deal; stab whatever you can reach with the sharp end and get the hell out of there. Note bar glasses are usually of low quality and break easily; you can't always count on a solid hit so make up for it with a decent gouge. Bottles vary in quality too, the South American ones surprisingly, I found were the strongest and took a real good hit to break. Hence why I drink Corona.

You are not really a scrapper until you have hit another patron with a barstool. Depending on the weight, they can be an excellent choice as a weapon to surprise the guy beating up your mate. If they look flimsy, give one a decent stomp; you may have just made yourself a baton. A lot of bars these days also have potted plants or vases, snot a bloke with one of them and he will remember it. These weapons are more unwieldy though and often work best with the element of surprise.

Last but not least, my favourite. A good, gritty fistful of sand, thrown into the face really takes the steam out of an assault. Throw it hard when they get close and try not to release it into the wind. That smarts.

Be imaginative, be brutal. Anything worth fighting for is worth fighting dirty for.

Carrying weapons on your person for your defence is a risky move. It can create a false sense of security unless you have had plenty of practice using it and are confident in retaining it. Most deaths occur at the hand of the defenders own weapon. If you do decide on carrying something try something light and easy, a startler or even a whistle is an effective tool for deterring attack with relatively little danger to the carrier.

Remember anything you are willing to carry you must be prepared to have it taken off you and used on you!

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><p><strong>Unarmed.<strong>

No weapons? That's okay you are naturally gifted with a decent set already. Hands, feet, knees, elbows, head and teeth. You have quite an arsenal there at your disposal if you know how and when to use it. We'll go into specific techniques later but for now we will talk about your targets.

If you are in genuine danger remember the big three; Eyes, throat and knees. These are your optimum target zones. I can already hear you females screaming; "The nuts! Kick him in the nuts!" Now ladies, I hate a kick in the manhood as much as the next bloke but just be aware that it may not stop your attacker. If the guy is crazy, pissed, jacked up on drugs, a eunuch or all of the above they may just keep on coming. Albeit, a little bit angrier then before.

Give them a jab with five fingers straight at the eyes, at least one will get in and then they will stop. They can't see you, they can't chase you can they? Or defend themselves either actually, if you are that way inclined and insulted by their unprovoked attack.

Throat, I am yet to find an attacker who remained a threat while rolling on the ground, spluttering and clutching Larynx. Apparently breathing is a perquisite to fighting. Even a stern jab with a couple of fingers is enough sometimes if you land it right in the notch above their sternum. Otherwise a straight punch works well and will leave them gasping, with that in mind, don't hit them as hard as you can unless you fancy the manslaughter charges. No that one wasn't a joke, you will straight up kill someone if you slot them a hard one in the rasper, so save it for the really bad guys only, ok? And then don't tell the police I told you to do it.

Have you ever lent a stick against something and stomped it to make smaller branches for kindling? Funnily enough attacking the knees is very similar including the hollow snap. Note that dry sticks however still work better for getting a fire started though. Think about driving your foot straight through their leg either directly above or straight on the patella (Kneecap). It takes very little force to stop even the largest of prison muscled crazies. As you probably figured, they won't be chasing you or playing hopscotch in a hurry after that.

**Hands.**

Keep you hands up and open at face height to protect your head, think about looking just overtop your finger tips as if you were aiming a rifle. Keep you elbows tucked close to your body to guard your ribs and pivot to block blows on your flank.

Keep your hands open when striking, utilise slaps, palms and hits with the edge of your hand. This is because it is just too easy to hit hard stuff on your foe with your fists and break all kinds of important, fragile things in your mitts. Open hands means you don't break them on the thugs noggin, because that makes victory high-fives with your mates afterwards painful.

The exception to this should be the hammerfist; a closed hand strike identical to how you would pound on a door. A safe hard hit that will knock your opponents temples or jaw for six. Also useful for letting your flatmate know that you have forgotten your key and would like her to let you in. with handstrikes aim for the jaw, nose, ears, neck, lower ribs, the temples (the area between your ears and forehead) and the kidneys.

Elbow and knee to these areas if they get in close, they are most excellent weapons that will inflict a lot of damage.

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><p><strong>Your Best Weapon.<strong>

What is your best Weapon?

Wait for the cliché…..

Your mind. Well that or a larger stick/knife/boomerang/pillow/flamethrower then your opponent.

Finishing on a serious note, stay switched on and you can avoid these situations altogether.

Consider these safety points;

-Avoid using an ipod, phone or mp3 when you are out in public, it muffles your hearing, displays wealth, demands your attention and may distract you from noticing the development of an attack.

-Be aware, look around, notice people, keep an eye on the ones acting suspect. If you are alert, you are a harder target for predators.

-Have your keys out and ready before you get to the door you need to unlock, whether this is your flat or your car. It is a moment of distraction and the perfect opportunity for an attack.

-If you are of age (of course) and drinking, don't get too drunk and if your social life will survive it, avoid the clubs and pubs. That is where bad people go to find intoxicated and therefore vulnerable people. I know I sound like an old person here, but it's true this is where the majority of violence occurs. I see what happens in that side of the world for a living. You have been warned.

-Dress conservatively and be aware of your colours if you are in an area with strong gang culture.

-Do not get separated from your group, stick together and look after your mates.

BE SAFE

BE AWESOME

_**Grey.**_

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><p><em>FanFiction and The Grey Southpaw would like to make it clear that this advice is given for use in a serious situation only, where your life could be at risk. We cannot accept any liability for inappropriate usage in normal conditions.<em>


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